


Slayer

by Kymbersmith90



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Captain Swan Supernatural Summer, F/M, Inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Vampire Slayer(s), Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:10:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymbersmith90/pseuds/Kymbersmith90
Summary: Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.My contribution to the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer 2018. It should update every Friday.





	1. Prologue.

The cemetery near Alder Park was eerily silent.

Even the bugs avoided the place.

The local residents scoffed at the idea of it being haunted, and still visited the church during the daylight hours. They still buried their deceased in its hallowed grounds. Yet, as soon as night fell, people stayed as far away from the grounds as possible. A few teenagers would run through it for a dare every few years, but once in a while, one wouldn’t make it out alive, and the stories would start again.

That evening, a lone resident was sat on the bench at the far end of the grounds.

Watching.

Waiting.

The man’s bright blue eyes were locked on to the latest headstone added to the ground earlier that day. The obituary said Michael Darling had been found dead behind the local club, with bite marks to his neck.

The police were calling it an animal attack.

But he knew better.

He knew what had happened to poor Michael Darling, and he was there to make sure Michael couldn’t bring the same kind of death to anyone else in town.

It was as the last bell rang, heralding midnight, that it finally happened.

With an almighty crack, an arm shot out of the ground before Michael’s headstone.

The man on the bench didn’t even look that way. He knew it would take the guy a while to break free.

It took three more attempts for Michael to finally punch through the ground above him, and pull himself out of his own grave.

A sharp breeze chose that moment to whistle through the cemetery, and Michael immediately turned his head in the direction of the man sitting on the bench. The only thoughts in his mind were to kill, to feed. Hungry eyes narrowed in on the only being in sight, and Michael snarled, fangs bared, as he made his way towards his prey.

He had only taken three steps when the whoosh of a bolt leaving a crossbow met his ears. On his forth step the bolt pierced his heart, turning Michael into a pile of ash that was promptly blown away by the wind.

The man on the bench tucked his crossbow into one of his inner jacket pockets, before he stood to leave the cemetery.

His job for the evening was complete.

* * *

 

On the other side of town, Storybrooke High School stood in darkness. The students had left hours ago, leaving the librarian alone to complete his research. Ever since he had been placed in the small town, he had spent most of his evenings split between the cemetery, and the library.

The shrill ring of his phone cut through the silence of the building, and without removing his eyes from the page in front of him, the librarian accepted the call.

“Gold speaking.” His British accent was clearer in the empty school that it normally was, often drowned out by the loud American teenagers that walked its halls.

“It’s time. Mulan is dead.”

“I understand, Sir.”

Gold disconnected the call and closed the book he had been reading, pushing it to one side. In its place, he pulled out a large manila file with the label Swan, Emma stuck to the top.

The librarian poured himself another cup of tea, as he settled himself in for a long night of studying.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Thank you so much for the wonderful response to this story so far. As the prologue was a little short, I thought I'd give you chapter 1 today to make up for it.**
> 
> **Ready to meet some of our Scooby Gang?**

The young woman moaned a little in her sleep as she rolled over once more, tangling the sheets around her legs.

There was a moment of peace in the room, before she rolled back the other way and let out a soft cry of, “No! Please don’t.”

Sweat was beginning to bead on her forehead as she twisted back again. The sheets were tangling up further around her legs, binding them together tightly.

Finally, with a louder cry of, “Please no,” on her lips, she bolted awake.

As she waited for her heartrate to calm down once more, she reached over to flick on the light in the room.

The girl took a few huge gulps of water from the warm glass beside her bed, as she used the back of her arm to wipe her sweaty forehead.

She felt like she’d just run a marathon. Every inch of her body was screaming in protest, and her mind was still a jumble.

She couldn’t remember what her dream was about.

All she remembered was an urge to fight.

A need to survive.

And one loan word, printed in the darkness.

_Vampyr._

* * *

Emma groaned loudly as her phone blared from its position on her bedside table, alerting her to the fact that she needed to get up. Even thought she’d crashed before ten the night before, exhausted from helping her father clean and unpack their kitchen, she still felt like she hadn’t slept at all.

The alarm was promptly followed by her father yelling, “Emma. It’s almost time for school,” up the stairs, which had her groaning a little more and burying her head under her pillow.

The first day at a new school was always a daunting experience.

Emma had been fairly popular in her old school, back in Boston. She’d had good friends; a handsome boyfriend that she enjoyed spending time with; and had been doing reasonably well in all of her classes.

But that had all changed the moment her father had been offered a new job, in a small town she’d never even heard of before. And now, Emma was having to pick up and start her life over again. She had no friends in Storybrooke. There would be no handsome boyfriend waiting for her after her classes. And she would be starting in the middle of the school year, already behind on the work her classmates were completing.

Her life really couldn’t get much worse.

* * *

Emma had been expecting the usual welcoming speech from the principal that morning, when her father drove her to school. She’d prepared herself for it, so she allowed her mind to drift as he went over the school rules once more, and what was expected from her behavior. She nodded her head in all of the right places, and smiled sweetly throughout the morning, hoping that it would set her off on the right foot.

After giving her his welcoming lecture, the principal insisted on escorting Emma to her first class of the day. She wasn’t particularly happy about the situation, but at least he wasn’t making her wear one of those god-awful name badges her old school used to hand out, with the new student’s name printed on it.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” she asked a pretty brunette, as Principal Humbert told the class to make sure they gave Emma a warm welcome, before he left her to fend for herself.

The other girl shook her head enthusiastically, as she cleared some space for Emma on the other side of their shared desk. “Hi. I’m Regina,” she whispered.

“Emma,” the blonde replied, as she slid down into a seat, and pulled out her notebook and pencil case, ready to take some notes.

“You’re new here, right?” Regina continued, not seeming to care that their teacher had already begun his lesson.

Emma nodded her head once, as she attempted to keep her focus on the board at the front of the class. She did not need a detention on her first day at a new school. There was no way her father wouldn’t hear about that, and she’d end up grounded for the rest of the year.

“Where are you from?” Regina pressed.

“Boston,” Emma whispered back, hoping her short and choppy answers would deter the brunette. Sadly, they didn’t.

“I love the city,” Regina continued. “My mother and I usually travel up to Boston once a month to do some shopping. But I’d kill to have grown up there. I bet it’s far more interesting than sleepy old Storybrooke.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Emma replied. “I’ve been busy at home since we moved.”

“Then you absolutely _have_ to join us tonight. At The Rabbit Hole.”

“The Rabbit Hole?” Emma asked, before she could stop herself. She should not be encouraging this girl and her constant chatter. She should be keeping her head down, and focusing on getting the grades she needed to get out of ‘sleepy Storybrooke.’

“It’s an under-twenty-one’s club,” Regina explained. “A little lame, compared to what Boston would have to offer. But it’s the _only_ cool place in town. Anyone who’s anyone will be there tonight. And now you will be too, Emma Swan.”

* * *

Emma said a temporary goodbye to her new friend at lunch time, outside of the library. She needed a brand-new set of textbooks, for her brand-new school’s curriculum. And apparently, the library was the place to collect them from.

“Hello,” she called out, pushing her way through the heavy double-doors, and into the dark room.

The library was a gorgeous part of the building. Emma wasn’t a nerd, in the stereotypical sense of the word, but she could understand the appeal of the room, with all of its subtle lighting and dark wood.

To her right was a long counter, which she assumed was used for checking books in and out, with a door to a small office hidden behind it. Directly in front of her was a large conference table, that could comfortably seat at least ten people. There were plenty of outlets on the table for laptops to be plugged into, and the occasional desk lamp dotted around it, to add some extra lighting to the room. The seats pushed up to it appeared to be comfortable leather chairs, made for long study sessions or quiet afternoons spent binging the latest must-read novel. The main bulk of the book collection was on a slightly elevated level, just behind the study area. Emma wasn’t sure how far back they stretched, but she certainly couldn’t see the wall on the other side of the room.

The library was unconventional in its design, but she imagined that for some of the students in school, it was utter paradise.

“Yes, can I help you?” The British accent to her right startled Emma out of her appraisal of the room, and she jumped a little in shock.

“Sorry,” she chuckled, trying to control her heartrate. “I’m told that I need to speak with Mr. Gold, the librarian?”

The librarian in question straightened up from his crouched position behind the counter, looking a little out of place in his three-piece suit.

“I’m Mr. Gold,” he told her. “And you are?”

“Emma,” she replied quickly, making her way over to the counter. “Emma Swan. I’m new here and I need some books.”

“I have just the thing you need,” he assured her. His eyes were dancing with excitement as he reached back under the counter, to pull out what was quite possibly the largest and heaviest looking book Emma had ever seen before.

When he slammed it down on the counter, Emma’s brow furrowed with confusion as she read the title.

_Vampyr._

She had seen that book somewhere before.

“Um… I don’t think that’s what I’m looking for,” she told him, backing away slowly.

“Really?” Mr. Gold asked, looking down at the book, almost as if to double check that he’d gotten the right one. “My mistake.” He glanced back up again to ask just what it was that she needed, but all he saw was the swinging door that signaled her departure from the room.

* * *

“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Emma apologized, as she bent down to help pick up the books of the girl she’d ran straight into, in her haste to leave the library.

“It’s no worries,” the other girl assured her. “I’m used to it.”

Emma cocked a brow in concern at her easy dismissal, but continued helping to gather up everything she’d sent flying. “I was just a little spooked in the library. I should have been paying more attention to where I was going.

“You were spooked?” the girl asked softly. “In the library?”

“Yeah. The librarian’s a little strange.” Emma forced a chuckle, like that would somehow explain the uneasy feeling she’d had, ever since he’d slammed that book down on the counter.

“He’s new,” the other girl argued. “A lot of people think the library is a bit creepy, but I think it’s cool. And Mr. Gold is like, super famous for this stuff. He worked at a big library in England before he came here. And he brought a ton of new books with him that I can’t wait to read.” As she spoke, the girl’s eyes began to dance with her growing excitement, and Emma loved seeing that. When she’d first crashed into her, the other girl had seemed a little defeated by life. It was nice to see that she appeared to have at least one passion in her life.

It was just a shame that her new idol was such a huge creep.

“Emma, did you get your books sorted?” Regina called out, as the crowd of students around her appeared to part, making way for their high school queen. She stopped dead in her tracks as she took in the sight of Emma, crouched down and handing over a pile of books to the girl she’d ran into.

“Is _she_ bothering you?” Regina sneered.

“No,” Emma replied, a little confused by the hostile tone in her new friend’s voice. “I just ran into… I’m sorry, what’s your name?” she asked the other girl.

“Zelena,” she replied, pushing her long red hair out of her face, to offer Emma a warm smile. “And you’re Emma Swan, right?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“Small school,” Zelena shrugged, as Emma handed her the last of her books, and then pushed herself up to stand.

“Well… it was nice to meet you, Zelena.”

“You too, Emma.”

* * *

The rest of Emma’s day passed by pretty uneventfully. Regina made sure to join her for the remainder of their classes, and took great pleasure in introducing her to the _right_ kind of people to be seen talking to. The two girls eventually parted ways after the final bell had rang, with Emma promising that she would find her way to The Rabbit Hole that evening, before she made the walk back home alone.

The house was empty when she pushed through the front door, but it wasn’t really that much of a surprise. Her father was working twelve-hour shifts to settle in with his new team at the Sheriff’s station, and wouldn’t be home until later that evening. Which meant he wouldn’t be around to question every minute of Emma’s day.

While the idea of spending a night at the local under-twenty-one’s club didn’t fill Emma with excitement, she wanted to fit in, while she was in Storybrooke. And if that meant hanging out in a crappy club, drinking diet-soda all night, and gossiping with the most popular girls in school, then that’s what she would do.

Before she left the house that evening, Emma sent her father a quick message to let him know where she was going, and what time she would be back. She didn’t want him to worry if he returned home early, to an empty house.

* * *

He had been watching her from the moment the sun had gone down.

He had watched her through the windows as she danced around her bedroom, getting ready for what appeared to be a big night out.

He had watched as she ate in the kitchen, while tapping away at the screen of her phone.

He had watched as she left her house, locking the door securely behind her, before she set off in the direction of the club that he knew would be packed that evening.

He watched as she checked the screen of her phone whenever she came to a crossroad, just to make sure that she was heading in the right direction, before slipping the device back into her pocket.

He watched from his place in the shadows when she stopped suddenly, turning slowly to look back over her shoulder at the empty sidewalk behind her, before she started walking a little faster.

And he watched as she made one wrong turn, into a dark alleyway that ended with a solid brick wall.

* * *

“Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.”

Emma turned suddenly at the sound of the voice behind her, bringing her arms up instinctively, in an attempt to protect herself.

“Who are you?” she asked. She craned her head to attempt to make out some of the features of the large figure she could just pick out of the darkness, but he seemed to prefer the shadows.

“Well you’re not at all what they said you’d be,” the voice drawled. “’Big and scary,’ they said. You’re nothin’ but a sweet little girl.”

For every step he took forward, Emma took two back.

“Who the hell are you?” she repeated, as she continued to back away slowly.

“I think the question you _really_ should be asking yourself is, ‘ _what am I_?’” the man taunted, as he finally stepped forward enough to place himself directly under the only street light in the alley.

Emma’s mouth opened on a scream before she had time to think about what she was doing.

His face was contorted into something that was distinctly not-human, as his bright yellow eyes flashed in her direction. At the horror on her face a smirk began pulling at his lips, revealing a distinctly sharp set of teeth, and… _oh God, were those fangs?_

Emma took another step back, into something solid, and felt her stomach drop as she realized she’d backed herself into the wall.

“You don’t mind if I record this, do you?” the non-human asked, pulling out his own phone as he took another small step closer.

Toying with her.

“It’s just, nobody’s _ever_ gonna believe I bagged myself a Slayer without some kind of proof.”

“Slayer?” Emma asked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Shame,” the not-a-man sighed. “And now you never will.”

He took another step forward to finally bring himself within touching distance of her, and reached out one lone finger, to run down the side of her face.

Emma reacted instinctually, bringing her hand up to punch him in the face.

Hard.

She’d never hit _anyone_ before in her life, and yet, the punch made contact with a sickening crunch, and surprising accuracy.

“You bitch,” he cried, reeling back in shock as his hand flew to his broken nose, assessing the damage she had caused.

Emma’s survival instincts were roaring to life, and she was surprised to note that her whole body was screaming at her to stand her ground and fight. Instead of finding a way around her attacker to flee.

“They said you’d be untrained,” he continued. The blood that was pouring from his nose made his appearance seem even more disturbing, in the amber light of the alleyway. “Which means… you can hit me as hard as you want, and for as long as you want… but I’m still gonna win tonight. You wanna know why?”

He took a step closer to Emma as he continued to taunt her, and she held her ground firmly. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how terrified she really was.

“Because… Little Girl… you don’t know how to end me.” His lips pulled back from his gums, baring his teeth in a horrifying show of dominance. For a brief moment Emma’s gut instinct wavered, telling her that now was the time to run, and never look back.

But before she could make her move, a hand shot out of nowhere to grab a fistful of her attacker’s hair, pulling his head up and away from where it was edging ever closer to her throat.

“Then it’s a good thing I do.”


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **It's official Friday here in the UK. (I should really be in bed).**

Emma watched with morbid fascination as the newcomer’s right hand came around her attacker’s chest, to drive what appeared to be a sharp wooden stake through his heart.

She was expecting blood, and lots of it.

She wasn’t expecting her attacker to explode into a shower of dust that covered both her, and her rescuer.

“Ugh. I hate when they do that,” he moaned, aggressively beating the dirt from his leather jacket.

“W… wh… what the hell was that?” she asked, pointing at the small pile of dust that had formed between the two of them.

“You really are untrained, aren’t you?” he questioned, as he ran a rough hand through his hair, to shake out the dirt. “Do you even know about your calling? Your destiny?”

“What the fuck does destiny have to do with some creep exploding into dust?” Emma’s voice was verging on hysterical now. Her brain couldn’t seem to comprehend everything that had just happened to her.

“How about we get out of this alley, and then we can talk?”

“How about you answer my fucking questions?” she demanded. “What the hell just happened?”

The stranger looked her over from top to bottom, before letting out a huff of frustration. “Fine. You wanna do this here? _He_ was a vampire. _You_ are a vampire Slayer. Happy now?”

Emma stared in disbelief for the longest of moments, before she let a slightly manic laugh escape her lips.

“Vampire?” she finally cried. “Are you out of your mind? And what the hell is a slayer? That’s what _he_ called me too. Are you working together? Is this some kind of elaborate prank on the new girl?”

“It’s not a prank, Emma Swan. This is your destiny.”

“How do you know my name?” she asked, as her tone hardened. “I never told you that. What the hell is wrong with you people? Don’t you know that my dad’s the sheriff of this town?”

“Look I know how this sounds, okay? I know it’s insane. And that it goes against everything you’ve ever believed before. But you _have_ to believe me.”

“Why? Why should I believe you?” she demanded.

Her rescuer deflated a little before finally admitting, “Because if you don’t, people like _him_ are gonna keep coming for you, Swan. And there are  _much_ worse beings out there than the vampire I just staked.”

Emma wasn’t sure why, but her instincts were telling her that she could trust this strange man. She believed every single word of his story, even though she was trying her best not.

“Show me?” she asked. “Show me more. _Prove_ to me that this is all real.”

“Follow me.”

* * *

“A cemetery?” she shrieked, looking at the headstones that were dotted periodically around the grounds. “Great. I’m standing in the middle of a cemetery, in the middle of the night, with someone trying to convince me vampires are real. _This_ is how I die.”

“I have no intentions of letting you die tonight, Swan. That would defeat the purpose of waking you up to your calling.”

“How exactly is it that you know my name, and I don’t know yours?” she asked, as she made her way over to one of the benches at the side of the ground, to take a seat. The wood was cold and damp, even through the thickness of her jeans, but her legs were still shaking from the earlier attack. Emma knew that she needed to sit down, before she fell down.

“Slayers are well known. When Mulan was killed, it didn’t take long for word to get around. Vampires are not exactly known for their modesty. And bagging a slayer, well… that gives you legendary status amongst the undead. I got lucky. Normally all that’s known about a potential slayer is that they’re female, and young. I’m sure your watcher will give you the official spiel. But long story short? I met a guy. A guy who was trying to convince me that I could change. That I could be someone better than I was. _He_ told me about you.”

“What’s a watcher?” Emma asked curiously.

“For every slayer, there’s a watcher. Their job is to train and guide you. To keep you alive for as long as they possibly can.”

“So… are you my watcher?” she wondered.

“Oh God no. Do I look like one of those stuffy old Brits? I’m just someone who wants to help.”

Emma wanted to point out that _he_ had a British accent. But at that moment there was an almighty crack, before an arm shot out of the ground of the freshest grave in the cemetery.

“What the hell?” she cried, sliding back on the bench to get as far away from it as she possibly could.

“Do you wanna take this one? The instincts are there. I saw you punch that other vamp in the alley.”

“Of course I don’t wanna take it. It’s gonna kill me,” she exclaimed.

Her rescuer looked down at the name on the headstone, before correcting Emma’s assumption. “ _She_. And I won’t let her kill you. You’ve gotta learn sometime, Swan. The freshly turned vamps are the best to practice on. Their skills are non-existent, and they’re weaker than their sires. Here.”

Emma caught the stake he tossed her way with surprising ease, before reluctantly pulling herself to her feet.

She watched as the arm waved frantically for a moment, before there was another crack, and its twin shot out of the ground.

“Jesus, a guy’s gonna go grey waiting for this,” he mumbled, before reaching down to yank the newly born vampire from her grave.

“What the hell are you doing?” Emma yelled at him, her eyes widening in shock.

“How are you gonna practice your skills if she can’t even escape her own coffin?” he asked, shooting a withering look at the young and untrained slayer.

The newly transformed vampire looked confused as she turned from Emma, to the strange man sat on her headstone, and then back again.

“Don’t look at me,” he replied, holding his hands up in submission. “She tastes _much_ better than I ever would.”

The vampire snarled at the thought of fresh blood, before turning and charging in Emma’s direction.

She didn’t have time to yell at the stranger for being such an ass. Instead, Emma widened her stance and planted her feet, bracing herself for the attack.

“I don’t know what to do,” she called out, as fear began clouding her face.

“Yes you do,” he replied. “Trust your instincts, Emma. You were _born_ to do this. Don’t overthink it. Just do what comes naturally.”

Emma didn’t have the time to overthink things. The vampire was reaching for her before her rescuer had finished speaking. So, she let her instincts kick in. After all, they’d helped to keep her alive earlier that evening, in the alley.

When the vampire’s hand clamped down on her shoulder, Emma reached for it, gripping her wrist tightly. She spun out from underneath the attack and used the momentum to bring her knee up, and into the vampire’s stomach.

The female doubled over in pain, but recovered quickly. She swept Emma’s legs out from underneath her until the slayer was flat on her back, with the stake rolling out of her hand.

“A little help?” Emma called out, frantically reaching for where she thought her weapon should be. The vampire didn’t hesitate to drop down on top of her, essentially pinning her in place.

“You’re doing fine,” her rescuer called back. He was still sat on top of the un-dead’s headstone, swinging his legs like he didn’t have a care in the world.

Emma gave up on her search for the wooden stake when the vampire’s jaws were in touching distance, and instead, brought both of her arms together to slam the heels of her hands into the snarling face.

The vampire reared back for a brief second.

But it wasn’t long enough for Emma to find her stake.

The next thing she felt was a pair of ice-cold hands closing around her throat, before they began to squeeze.

“Okay… I think that’s enough for tonight’s lesson,” her rescuer called out. Emma blinked and he was suddenly stood over the two of them.

She just had enough time to turn her head as he brought the stake down and through the vampire’s heart. There was a moment of absolute silence, where the vampire’s eyes widened in shock, before she finally disintegrated into a shower of dust that rained down over Emma.

Her rescuer tumbled forward with the momentum of his strike, as Emma shook her head to try and clear her hair of the dead-dust that was covering it. She hadn’t realized just how close he was, until she turned back to feel his cool breath caressing her face.

For a moment the two of them were frozen. Emma was still laying on her back, covered in dirt and dust, with her chest heaving from the exertion of the fight. And he was straddling her thighs, with his arms braced either side of her head, as he stared down at her lips.

When she finally pulled herself together, Emma gave him a rough shove to get him off her, before pushing herself up to her feet.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“I’m not _that_ kind of girl,” she snapped back at him. “So… if that’s what you’re here for, you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

“It’s not,” he assured her. “I just…. I thought that maybe we could be friends?”

“Friends tend to tell each other their names,” Emma threw back at him.

He was silent for a moment, clearly contemplating just how much to tell her, before he eventually settled on one word. “Hook.”

“Come again?”

“My name,” he replied. “It’s Hook.”

“Who the hell calls their kid Hook?” she asked. Emma was slightly outraged at the mere thought of some woman giving birth to a beautiful little boy, with bright blue eyes, and then deciding that the name _Hook_ would be appropriate for him.

“It’s a nickname,” he admitted with a wry chuckle. “I’ve been known as Hook for far longer than I was known by my given name.”

“And just what is your given name?”

“Killian,” he answered softly. “My name’s Killian.”

Emma took a moment to brush herself down, before turning her attention back to the bench she’d been sat on, and her bag that lay discarded at the foot of it.

“Okay,” she finally replied. “Well, thanks for… _all of this_. But I’m pretty sure you have the wrong girl, _Killian_. And I’m not exactly in the market for new friends so…. See ya.”

She was already walking away before he had any time to process what she had just said. Thankfully, his brain kicked in quick enough to send him jogging after her.

“Wait,” he pleaded, tugging on her elbow.

Emma span round quickly and wrenched her arm free from his grasp.

Killian took a small step back and raised his hands once more in surrender. “After _everything_ you’ve seen tonight, you’re just gonna walk away?” he demanded.

She scanned their surroundings for a moment, taking in the eerie silence of the cemetery, and the darkness of the night, before finally turning back to face him. “Yeah,” she said, nodding her head for added emphasis.

Killian looked like he wanted to roll his eyes at her, but stopped himself before he could. Emma planted her hands on her hips, as she gave him a moment to say something else.

When he didn’t, she turned around to leave once more.

“Perhaps you’re right,” he called after her. “Maybe you’re not the chosen one. Maybe it’s some other seventeen-year-old girl who just moved to town. I mean…” he paused for a moment and Emma found herself stopping, waiting to hear what else he was going to say. She had a feeling that whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like.

“It’s not like you’ve been having the dreams, right?”


	4. Chapter 3

Emma tossed and turned again that evening. Her dreams were full of dark moving shadows, and fangs snapping at her neck. There were haunting blue eyes, and terrifying yellow ones, that all seemed to blur together.

And that one word that leapt out of the darkness at her once more.

_Vampyr._

When she woke the next morning, drenched in sweat, it was with a new determination to find out what the hell was going on in town.

* * *

“Okay… what do you know?” she yelled out, pushing her way into the library.

“Excuse me?” Gold called back, popping his head out from one of the stacks at the back of the room.

“Your friend. He saved my life last night and then started banging on about vampires, and slayers, and watchers. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say you’re the watcher here?”

“Friend?” he asked, pushing the book he’d been examining back into its place, to make his way down to where Emma was standing. “What friend?”

“Tall. Dark. Handsome - in a _really_ annoying way. British accent. Ringing any bells?”

“None at all,” he admitted honestly, and the concern that flooded his face was starting to worry Emma. “What happened exactly?”

“This…” She waved her hands around animatedly for a moment, searching for a word less ridiculous than _vampire_. But nothing came to her. “This… vampire attacked me last night, on my way to The Rabbit Hole. He saved my life. Then he took me to the _cemetery_ … a strange guy took me to the freaking cemetery, and he told me to fight this new vampire that was crawling out of her own grave. He gave me this spiel about slayers and watchers…”

“And he sent you to me?” Gold asked.

“Not exactly. He said that watchers were stuffy and British. You’re the only person I know in this town who fits that description,” she replied with false cheer. “So... What do you know?”

Gold looked at Emma, and then out of the windows in the doors to the library. The halls were starting to get busy, a sure sign that the day was about to begin. But he knew that this was probably his best chance to speak with the young woman in front of him.

“I don’t know who he is, but he’s right. You, Emma Swan, are the chosen one.”

Emma rolled her eyes a little at the reference to her destiny and fate once more. But Gold either didn’t see her, or had chosen to ignore her.

“Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer.”

“So, if only one of these slayers is born into every generation, how do you know it’s me?” she asked, dropping her bag down to the table, as she pulled herself up to sit on top of it.

Gold wished she’d keep her feet off the furniture. But at least she wasn’t running again. He could only hope that this mystery man she’d ran into would prove to be an ally of theirs, and not someone who wanted to turn her for their own cause.

“The Council have their ways. I’m not privy to them.”

“The Council?” She raised a brow in question and Gold sighed, as he pulled off his glasses to rub at his eyes. This was proving to be more difficult than he had initially expected.

“The Watchers Council. They have worked with each and every slayer since the creation of the very first. They know who will be chosen, and when.”

“So… let me get this right?” Emma asked. “Some stuffy British folk, who have never met me before, have just decided that I’m the one to fight their war on darkness?”

“No,” he replied patiently. “They don’t choose the next Slayer. _Fate_ chooses her. They are simply placed close to her in order to help. To guide her in her quest.”

“But _how_ do you know it’s me?” she pressed. “An awful lot of girls were born into my generation. It could be any one of us.”

“The Council is certain, Emma. They’ve _never_ been wrong before. Your being here is no coincidence. Something big is about to happen in Storybrooke. This town _needs_ a slayer.”

“I don’t know how to be that person,” she threw back at him. It was the first time since they had met that Gold had seen her not as a slayer, but as a scared young woman. “Killian tried last night. It didn’t end well. He had to kill that second vamp before she killed me. How the hell do you expect me to stop the spread of evil if I can’t even take care of myself?”

“Killian? That’s the name of your mystery man?” Gold was certain he’d heard that name before. He just wasn’t sure where.

“He’s not _my_ mystery man,” she protested, “But, yeah. That’s what he said. Why can’t _he_ do this? You two could team up. I’m sure that would work.”

“I’m a watcher, Emma. I’m not a slayer. I don’t have the strength or the skills that you have. It can _only_ be you.”

Emma didn’t get a chance to reply. The next sound she heard was that of the bell ringing, signaling the start of her school day.

“I’ve gotta go,” she told him, picking up her bag to swing over her shoulder, as she practically ran for the door.

Gold wasn’t sure if she’d ever be back.

* * *

“Emma, where were you last night?” Regina asked, as she watched the blonde enter their homeroom a little later than expected.

“Oh, I um… I got lost,” she lied, hoping the potential embarrassment at admitting such a thing would cover up the slight stutter in her voice.

“Well, I’d say you missed an epic night, but things don’t really get epic in this town. You can always join us tonight instead?”

“Yeah, sure,” Emma agreed. “I think my dad’s working late again, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Excellent news. The Merry Men are going to be playing there this evening, and they’re probably one of the best bands we get. I’m sure you’ll love them.”

Emma nodded her agreement, but was saved from coming up with some reply that wasn’t _how ridiculous is that name for a band?_ by the arrival of their tutor.

Thankfully her second period of the day was chemistry, and Regina didn’t seem to be a part of the class Emma had been placed into. So when she made her way into the room, she decided to take the seat next to the only familiar face she recognized.

“Hey, Zelena. I hope you don’t mind me joining you?”

“Oh of course not,” she stuttered out. “Will Regina mind?”

“Will Regina mind what?”

“You sitting with us? We’re not really part of her group,” Zelena explained quietly.

“Fuck her,” came a mumbled response from the redhead’s other side, and Emma peered around her to see who had spoken it.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Zelena interrupted. “Emma Swan, this is my best friend, August Booth. August, this is Emma Swan.”

August held his hand out to take Emma’s into his own, but instead of shaking it as she had expected, he brought it up to his lips, to place a delicate kiss to the back of it.

“Enchanté,” he whispered, winking in her direction.

Emma pulled her hand back with a slight chuckle. She’d never been greeted that way before in her entire life. And she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about it. But before she could say anything, August asked, “So, you’re the new girl, right?”

“I am indeed. I wonder… how long does someone have to be in town for, before they stop being referred to as the new girl?”

“Oh, there aren’t many people who come to town,” Zelena snorted. “You’ll probably be known as the new girl until we graduate.”

“Good to know.”

* * *

 

Emma found chemistry to be an interesting experience. While the lesson itself was just as boring as she remembered it being back in Boston, working with Zelena and August was actually a fun way to pass the time. They had an easy friendship, that Zelena happily explained dated back to when they were babies. And it clearly showed.

While they might not have been the coolest kids in school, they were definitely more fun to be around than Regina and her friends had been.

When the bell rang signaling the end of the period, Emma was happy to note that Zelena and August seemed to be headed in the same direction as she was. The three of them shared all of their classes that morning, with no sign of Regina, or any of her other friends, in sight. Which made Emma’s decision to spend her lunchbreak with the two new people in her life much easier than she had expected.

“So, long story short,” Zelena chuckled, “August got so drunk, he ended up peeing in my mom’s favorite purse. He was banned from the house for three months as a result of it.”

August looked suitably embarrassed by his best friend’s traitorous tale, but Emma suspected the glint in his eyes meant that he had an equally embarrassing one about Zelena. And he was just waiting for the perfect moment to drop it.

Until someone interrupted the three of them.

“Are they bothering you?” Regina asked, staring down at Zelena and August from the lofty heights of her sky-high heels.

“No, not at all,” Emma replied honestly. “They were just telling me some stories about how they met.”

“I’m sure that’s thrilling,” Regina interrupted, in a tone that clearly stated she thought it was the most boring subject in the entire world. “But we’re sitting over there.” She inclined her head in the direction of the table Emma could already see full of guys from the football team, and all of Regina’s friends.

“I’m fine here, thanks.”

Regina’s face dropped. Like someone had just informed her that her dog had been hit by a car. And Emma got the distinct feeling that she’d never had someone reuse her demands before. “Well…” she finally huffed out, “Don’t come crying to me when your social status drops because you’ve spent so long with these bottom-dwellers.” With those parting words she turned on her heels, and stormed away.

The others watched her go in silence.

Regina thundered across the cafeteria, drawing the attention of everyone in the room, before she took a seat at her own table. She gave a slight huff of frustration, and then began waving her arms animatedly. Everyone knew that she was busy filling her friends in on Emma’s fall from grace. It wouldn’t take long for the entire school to hear about the incident.

“I’m sorry,” Zelena apologized. The last thing she had wanted to do was hurt Emma in any way. “You can join them, if you want? We won’t mind. Will we August?”

August looked like he clearly would, but he shook his head in agreement anyway.

“It’s okay,” Emma assured them. “I really did mean what I said. I’m happy here. With you guys.”

August and Zelena exchanged a small look, before he launched into his own embarrassing tale. This one was about the first time Zelena had stolen a bottle of wine from her mother’s cupboard, and all of the places she had ended up puking, as a result of that.

* * *

By the time the final bell had rung that afternoon, Emma was starting to feel like she had made her first true friends in Storybrooke.

Zelena and August had both promised they would be at The Rabbit Hole that evening, and that Emma was welcome to join the two of them, now that her invitation from Regina looked like it no longer stood. Emma found herself more excited for the night ahead of her than she had been when Regina had first mentioned the club.

She had even managed to push all thoughts of creepy librarians, attractive mystery men, and vampires from her mind. Instead, she chose to focus on mentally building a killer outfit to wear that night.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I know some of you want some answers about Killian. I promise they are coming (and there are hints in the text), but I'm keeping quiet until a little later I'm afraid.**

Emma wasn’t surprised to find the note from her father on the kitchen counter when she arrived home that afternoon. David had taken over as the town’s sheriff, and he was putting in a horrendous amount of hours at the station to bring it up to his usual standards. But she didn’t mind too much. Emma had gotten used to the demands of her father’s job fairly soon after the divorce had been finalised.

Thankfully, her walk to The Rabbit Hole that evening was much less eventful than the one from the previous night. Zelena had given her exact directions on how to get to the club from the part of town Emma lived in, and she’d felt far more confident with the journey.

While nobody seemed to be lurking in the shadows, waiting to jump out and attack her, Emma couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched.

Getting into the club was relatively easy, given that it was an under-twenty-one’s establishment. The bouncer on the door only seemed to be stopping those he deemed under the age of twelve, so he ushered her through quickly. And once inside, it didn’t take her long to spot Zelena’s flame-red hair at a small table near the bar.

“Hey, you made it,” she greeted, as Emma slid onto a free stool beside her friend.

“I did. Has August not arrived yet?”

“Oh, he’s here,” Zelena replied, in a somewhat clipped tone. “He’s trying his luck.” She nodded her head to the left, and Emma followed her eyes to find the other part of their group talking to a girl she didn’t recognise.

“Ahhh,” she sighed. She hadn’t realised until that moment that Zelena seemed to have feelings for her best friend. “Do you want a drink?” she asked, in an attempt to try and steer the conversation to much safer grounds.

“Please.”

It was only as Emma was making her way over to the bar that she caught sight of him. The flash of electric-blue and black leather could only belong to one person. With a quick look over her shoulder to make sure Zelena was distracted, she quickly detoured over to the wide metal staircase that lead up to the balcony above the main dancefloor.

“So… you were following me,” she called out, when she was finally in hearing range.

“I wasn’t sure you noticed me,” he replied, his eyes still glued to the view below him. “You need training. At one point you looked right at me, and didn’t even see me.”

“Maybe you’re the one who needs training?” she suggested, as she moved to lean back against the railing he was busy looking out over. “Normal people just say hi.”

Killian finally pulled his eyes away from the crowd to look over at Emma and offer her a quick, “Hi,” before he turned back once more.

“Wow. You are _so_ antisocial,” she huffed.

“Do you know that girl?” he asked instead.

“Huh?” Killian’s whole mystery-man routine was starting to give her a headache.

“The redhead,” he replied, inclining his own ever-so-slightly in the direction of Zelena. She appeared to be laughing at some guy’s joke, who had taken Emma’s place at their table.

“Yeah. She’s a friend,” she replied slowly, wondering where he was going with his line of questioning.

“Then you’re gonna need this.” Killian kept his eyes on the scene below him as he pulled a familiar looking stake from his jacket pocket, and offered it to her.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Emma protested. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Does it really matter?” he snapped back, his eyes flicking over to her, and then back to the floor below. “You’re wasting time and they’re leaving. Unless you want your friend to end up in a body bag… _or worse_ … then I’d suggest you run.”

Emma looked down at Zelena, where she was being guided out of the building by her hand, and then over to Killian once more, before she took the stake he was offering. “Are you coming?”

“No. This one’s all on you, Swan.”

Emma’s eyes widened in horror at the thought of having to save her friend all alone. But she knew she didn’t have the time to protest. Zelena was already out of the building, and she needed to act fast.

“Fuck you,” she spat at him, before running for the staircase.

Emma was almost at the exit when she felt a strong hand gripping her elbow. She reacted instinctually, twisting round to face her would-be-attacker, and bringing the stake up, ready to land a killer blow.

“Woah. Chill out,” August chuckled, before his brow furrowed as he took in her choice of weapon. “Is that a wooden stake?”

Emma looked between her friend, the weapon in her hand, and then back again, before she dropped her arm and forced her face to relax. “Yeah. They’re all the rage in Boston,” she lied. “You guys don’t have them here?”

“No,” he declared, his eyes still screaming that he thought it was a little weird she did. “Where are you going?”

August’s words were like a bucket of ice to Emma’s subconscious, and she twisted back round to face the exit. “I um… Zelena left her wallet with me and I just wanted to get it back to her.”

“Oh, cool. I’ll come with you.”

“Why don’t you wait here and get some more drinks in?” Emma suggested. It was gonna be hard enough to get Zelena away from the vampire she was with, without August tagging along. She really didn’t need an audience for this. Especially not one the vampire could use as collateral damage.

“Nah. I’m not really feeling it here tonight,” he told her, rocking back on his heels as he slipped his hands into his back pockets. “I’ll come with you.”

Emma wanted to protest. She wanted to insist that he stay behind, where he would be safe. But she was growing ever more aware that the longer she tried to put him off, the closer Zelena’s life came to ending. “Okay,” she told him. “Just… Keep up.”

When she pushed through the exit, Emma wasn’t surprised to see no sign of Zelena’s red hair anywhere in sight. The vampire had gotten a good head start on her, and August had definitely slowed things down.

“Hey,” she called out to the bouncer, “Have you seen a girl with red hair come out this way? She dropped her wallet and I wanna get it back to her.”

The bouncer looked down at her for a moment, almost as if to judge the sincerity of her statement, before finally nodding his head off to one side.

“Thanks,” Emma yelled over her shoulder, already running in that direction.

“Emma wait. Slow down,” August called after her.

She was surprised to note that without much effort, she was easily pulling away from him as her feet pounded along the sidewalk. She was in a part of town she didn’t know, but she allowed her instincts to guide her, hoping that they were pulling her in the right direction.

Emma slowed as soon as she spotted the entrance to the cemetery in the distance.

“Of course,” she sighed to herself.

_Where else would a vampire take her friend?_

“What the hell are we doing here?” August panted, when he finally caught up to her.

“You’ve never made out in a cemetery before?” she asked, trying to keep her tone as light and flirty as possible. August floundered for a reply, but Emma was already creeping through the gates before he could get it out. Instead, he followed close behind her.

Her head whipped back and forth, checking between each headstone and mausoleum as she made her way through the graveyard, following her gut instincts. Emma was starting to think they had guided her in the wrong direction, and that Zelena was already dead.

Until a blood-curdling scream rang out through the eerie silence, startling them both.

“What the hell was that?” August demanded.

But Emma was too busy to answer. Her feet were already beating the grass, carrying her off in the direction the scream had originated from, as she tightened her grip on Killian’s stake.

It didn’t take her long to find her friend. Zelena’s flame-red hair made her instantly recognisable, even in the position she was in. Killian had been right. The guy she’d left with was definitely a vampire. He had Zelena pinned to the back of a mausoleum, with the tips of her toes just brushing against the dirty ground below her, and his head bent towards her neck.

Emma wasn’t sure what came over her, but she knew that she needed to get the vamp away from her friend. So she called out, “What is it with you guys and cemeteries? It’s a little clichéd, don’t cha think?”

The vampire dropped Zelena at the sound of another voice, and she crumpled to the ground like a rag doll.

“Go and check she’s okay,” Emma told August, not even bothering to look at him. She knew that she’d see all of his questions there if she did, and if they wanted to survive that evening, she couldn’t let herself be distracted.

She didn’t have Killian around to save them if it all went wrong this time.

The vampire’s yellow eyes flicked over to the stake still gripped tightly in her left hand, before making their way up to settle on her face. “Slayer,” he snarled.

“So I’ve been told,” Emma sassed back. She wasn’t sure where the bravado was coming from, but it was covering her nerves, so she opted to keep it.

“I’ve always wanted to kill a slayer,” he continued, stalking a little closer to her.

Emma swallowed back the worry that crept in at his words. If he’d always wanted to kill a slayer, that meant he’d been around a while. And if Killian was to be believed, the older the vampires was, the more skilled it would be.

“I’ve always wanted to meet Brad Pitt,” she threw out instead. “But we can’t always get what we want in life. Or, I guess in your case… in death.”

The vampire paused for a moment to consider her words, and Emma used the time to plant her feet shoulder-width apart in anticipation of the attack she knew was coming. The moment he moved she called out, “ _Run_ ,” to her friends, and watched just long enough to see them send her a worrying glance, before August pulled Zelena along in the direction of the entrance of the cemetery.

Then she turned her full attention back to her vampire attacker.

Killian had told her the instincts she needed to fight were buried deep inside of her. Emma closed her eyes and drew in three deep breaths, trying to clear the panic that was clawing at the edges of her mind, at the thought of her rapidly-approaching death. When she opened them again the vampire was in touching distance, so she balled her right hand into a fist and punched out in the direction of his stomach.

He grunted in pain and his momentum ground to a halt when she made contact, but it wasn’t long enough for her to make an exit. She sensed the air move around her before she felt his own fist connect with the side of her face.

Emma had never been hit before!

It didn’t hurt quite as much as she thought it would. But it still left her reeling just long enough for him to sweep her legs out from under her.

She went down hard, her butt cushioning her fall on the hard ground. But before he could lower himself down over her, she tucked her knees into her chest and kicked out with both of her feet. The kick sent him soaring over the cemetery and crashing into the mausoleum he’d pinned Zelena to only a few minutes earlier.

Emma pushed herself back up to a standing position, making sure the stake was still gripped firmly in her hand, as she watched the vampire pull himself to his feet. He snarled in her direction, snapping his teeth menacingly, before he charged at her one more time.

The slayer closed her eyes again, hoping it would help to centre herself and push away the pain that was beginning to radiate around her body, from the blows she’d already taken. She could sense how close her attacker was, even without the use of her sight.

Something inside of her told her exactly when to move.

Emma’s eyes snapped open as she took one step to her left, and then thrust out her right arm. The stake made contact with its intended target with a sickening thud, as the momentum of her movement drove it through the vampire’s chest and into his heart. He didn’t have time to say anything else before he disintegrated into a pile of dust on top of the grave of Jocelyn Brown.

Emma kept her composure for all of three seconds, before she let the stake slip from her grasp and dropped her hands down to her knees, to suck in a harsh breath. She felt like she was having a panic attack, and she didn’t know what to do about it.

“It’s okay,” came a reassuringly familiar voice. “It’s okay, Swan. You did good.”

Emma flicked her eyes up to meet his as her legs gave out, and she collapsed down to the ground beneath her. “I thought this one was all on me?” she snapped back at him.

“I had to do something to make you realise your potential. If you knew I was out here, you wouldn’t have put as much effort into preserving your own life.”

“You’re a fucking arsehole,” Emma told him, as she watched him lower himself into a sitting position beside her, with his legs crossed perfectly.

“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” he chuckled bitterly.


	6. Chapter 5

“You need to talk to your watcher. He should be training you.”

It was the first time either of them had spoken for a while. Killian had folded himself down to sit beside Emma while she calmed herself after the fight, just offering her the kind of comfort that came from knowing you weren’t alone in the world.

Even if that world had just gotten a damned sight bigger and scarier.

“Have you seen the man?” she snorted. “The whole guidance part I get. But training doesn’t look like it would be his area of expertise. He looks like the kind of guy who would get winded when jogging to make the last bus.”

“He might surprise you,” Killian countered. “I doubt he’d have been placed this close to you if The Council didn’t believe him capable of fulfilling his duties.”

“What about you?” Emma asked, finally turning to look at him. “Why can’t you train me?”

“I’m not a watcher.”

“So? You clearly know what you’re doing here. I don’t. Surely you could train me better than he could. I mean, I’m not even sure he’s ever met a vampire before, let alone fought one.” Emma wasn’t entirely sure why, but something inside of her was screaming that Killian was the one she should be training with. While she hadn’t ever seen him actually fighting a vampire, she got the feeling that his cool demeanor could only come from the experience and knowledge that he’d be able to best one, should a fight occur.

“Talk to your watcher first,” he told her. “His job is to prepare you for this life, in a way that I couldn’t even begin to imagine. But if you still want someone to train with after that, I’ll be around.”

“You know, normal people just give out contact details,” Emma teased. “Like a phone number, or an email address, or something. They don’t lurk in the shadows waiting for people’s lives to go to hell.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.” He stood suddenly, before extending a hand back to help her up. “We should get you home. Your father will be finishing work soon.”

“How do you know that?” she demanded, ignoring his hand in favor of pushing herself to her feet.

“I was prepared for your arrival,” was all Killian said, before turning on his heels to head for the cemetery gates.

“You know, you’re a little bit creepy,” Emma called after him.

“So I’ve been told,” he threw back at her.

* * *

“I killed a vampire last night,” Emma declared, as she pushed her way into the library the next morning.

“Excuse me?” came the now-familiar voice that liked to linger in the stacks.

“He was trying to kill one of my friends. Well… former friends,” she corrected. Emma had no doubts that Zelena and August would want nothing to do with her after what they had seen the night before. She would soon be known as the town freak, and the transition to her new home would be fully complete.

“So… you killed it?” Gold asked, as he pushed his book back into its place, to make his way down the steps and over to where she was sat, on top of the counter along the right side of the room.

“Yep. Stake through the heart and it turned to a pile of dust.”

“Impressive,” he remarked, with a slightly appreciative nod. “And you did that all alone?”

“Yeah. Killian was there, but he tricked me into thinking he wouldn’t be,” she replied. “He’s kind of an ass.”

The name Killian was still ringing a bell with Gold, but he hadn’t yet managed to make a connection to it. He was sure he’d never met a man named Killian before, and that if he had, he’d have remembered doing so. But so far, none of his own research was turning up anything about a Killian being connected to the supernatural world.

“So, does this mean you’re ready to accept your destiny and begin your training?” he asked hopefully.

“Well, I’m not denying that vampires exist anymore. But I’m not sure how I feel about training. I mean, I have school and… a life. What’s that gonna entail exactly?”

“We need to work on your fitness,” Gold began, his excitement already showing in his movements. “It’s all there, lurking under the surface. But if we can hone your skills, you’ll become a much more effective slayer. Of course, there’s also the research that you’ll need to learn to conduct, and the reports to be read on past supernatural encounters, so that you can better prepare yourself.”

Emma slid off the counter and hoisted her bag back up onto her shoulder. “Yeah, you lost me at research and reports,” she sighed. “I have to get to class and see what’s left of my reputation in this town.”

She left before Gold could say anything else, with the library doors swinging back and forth under the power of her push.

* * *

When Emma made it to her first class of the day, she was surprised to see Zelena and August both sat at their usual desks, wearing bright smiles that they aimed her way.

“We saved you a seat,” Zelena explained, as she pulled her bag from the chair that was positioned just behind their own.

“Thanks.” Emma wasn’t really sure what was going on. She had expected the two of them to ignore her, not to treat her as if nothing had happened. “Are um… are you okay?”

“A little sore, but I’m guessing it would have been a whole lot worse if you hadn’t shown up when you did. Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome.”

The arrival of their teacher cut any added discussion short, but Emma still found herself relaxing back into her seat a little more. The two people in town that she had actually bonded with had seen the crazy turn her life had taken since her arrival, and they still wanted to spend time with her.

Emma’s second period was a class she didn’t share with her friends, so they said their goodbyes quickly at the doors, before parting for their respective lessons. As she slipped into her Spanish room, she went back to feeling like an outcast once more, as the rest of the students gave her a quick glance, before turning back to their own established friendships. Regina didn’t even bother sparing her a look as she made her own dramatic entrance, and took her seat in the center of the room. But Emma had been expecting that, after the way she had shunned her attention the day before.

“Shoulda let Gold talk me into the research,” she sighed to herself, as she pulled out her books and pens.

The class seemed to drag by at a much slower pace without Zelena and August by her side. She hadn’t realized just how much she needed that friendly reassurance in her life, until she had arrived in a new town without it.

As Emma sat making notes on Spanish terms she knew she’d never remember, and that she would probably never use in her lifetime, she realized that what happened the night before might not have been as terrible for her new reputation as she’d first thought it to be. The whole Slayer business was scary and new, and she didn’t want to go through it alone. While there was absolutely no way she’d be able to open up to her father about it, Emma couldn’t see any reason why she couldn’t tell her new friends the truth.

They had, after all, seen a vampire in the flesh.

By the time the bell rang to signal the start of lunch, Emma had made up her mind to tell August and Zelena everything at the end of the school day.

* * *

“Where are we going?” August asked, as he watched the students quickly empty out of the building, heading out into the bright Storybrooke evening, full of plans for the night ahead.

“I wanted to explain what happened last night. What you guys saw. And there’s someone here that can help me do that.”

August and Zelena looked a little confused as Emma led the way down the halls, before finally stopping in front of the library doors. She took a deep breath in to steady herself, before pushing through them and calling out, “Gold? You in here?”

His familiar head of hair poked out from the stacks at the back of the room at the sound of her voice. Gold’s eyes flicked first from Emma, to the two people stood either side of her, before settling back on Emma’s face. “Yes, Miss. Swan?” he asked professionally.

“You can cut the Miss. Swan BS,” she told him. “This is Zelena and August. They saw what happened last night.”

“What happened last night?” he asked, still maintaining that air of detached professionalism, even as Emma dropped her bag to the floor, to pull herself up into a sitting position on top of the counter.

“Seriously?” she sighed. “God, you’re worse than Killian in some ways.”

Gold raised a brow in her direction, that told Emma he wasn’t amused by the comparison, but it didn’t stop her from barreling on.

“Zelena was attacked by a vampire last night. I killed it. August saw it all happen. And Gold here is some kind of watcher. I think that’s everyone up to speed. Now can we stop pretending?”

“That… _thing_ last night was a vampire?” August shrieked, his face a mask of pure shock.

“Welcome to my world,” Emma chuckled.

“Miss. Swan, can I have word?” Gold asked, propping his hands onto his hips to convey his displeasure at the current situation.

Emma rolled her eyes in his direction, but slid off the counter to follow him back into the small office that was situated behind it.

“What the bloody hell are you doing?” he asked, the moment she closed the door behind herself. “The work of the Slayer should be carried out in secrecy. The more people who know the truth about you, the more danger you put yourself _and them_ into.”

“Relax,” she chided. “They were there last night, Gold. They saw what happened. They were bound to have questions. Surely it’s better to tell them the truth, so they know what to look out for, rather than make up some kind of lie that gets them killed?”

Gold didn’t look too happy about the current situation, but Emma could see that he was already beginning to accept it.

“Excellent,” she declared, as she turned on her heels to head back out to the library, where her friends were still stood in stunned silence. “So, where were we?”

“Vampires,” Zelena mumbled. “We were at vampires.”

Emma pulled herself up to sit on top of the large table in the middle of the room, crossing her legs to lean back on her arms. “Yeah, vampires are real. I’m still trying to get my head around that one myself. Do you wanna do your bit?” she asked Gold.

He heaved a heavy sigh at her actions, pulling off his glasses to clean them on the inside of his jacket. Gold wasn’t used to being around young adults. Being a Watcher would be so much easier if slayers weren’t normally teenage girls.

“Into every generation a slayer is born…”


	7. Chapter 6

“Is it legal to keep those here?” Emma asked, as she watched Gold and August unpack large shipping crates full of weapons. During the week, her watcher had installed a large metal cage in the library, with further metal cupboards inside of it. And every day, the variety of weapons contained within them grew larger.

“Technically, I’m not sure any of this would be classified as legal,” the other man pointed out, as he handed August an ancient looking axe. “But we must make do with the situation that has presented itself.”

Emma rolled her eyes at the stuffiness that was always present in his tone, but at the sound of the gentle beeping of the stopwatch, hit the button to increase the speed on her treadmill.

Ever since she’d dropped her bombshell on August and Zelena, the three of them had been spending most of their free time in library. Gold had been happy to see that Emma was suddenly taking an interest in her destiny, and while she stubbornly refused to do the required reading, Zelena was more than happy to pick up the slack. Even though the idea of vampires and monsters had terrified her at first, she was finding it fascinating to read about an entirely different world from the one she’d thought she’d known.

“How are you not winded yet?” August scoffed, as he paused to watch his friend’s pace pick up a little, as she continued her assessment. Gold had wanted to measure Emma’s physical fitness, before he began her training. So Emma had spent all of her Saturday morning following some kind of fitness routine that he had devised, while her friends watched on.

“Slayer,” she shrugged, because it was the only explanation she had for it. Emma used to get winded running up a staircase. Now, she could spend seventy-three minutes on a treadmill that was systematically increasing both the speed and incline she was running at, and still carry on a conversation with those around her.

“Ugh. I need to hit the gym more often,” August mumbled to himself, as he began arranging the axes by their size, in the cupboards.

When the timer on the treadmill finally signaled the end of the session, Emma hopped off and moved over to fall into the seat beside her friend. She might not have been exhausted from the workout, but she was hungry. And thirsty.

“Whatcha reading?” she asked, as she reached for the tray of snacks Gold had laid out for the teenagers to pick at.

“Watcher’s journals,” Zelena answered, as she marked her page with a piece of ribbon and closed the book. “Mr. Gold let me start with the earliest ones he owned, and while these clearly don’t date back to the very first slayer, they give a good history of what slayers have been through in the past, and what they’re expected to do in the future.”

“Cool.”

Emma could definitely see the appeal in reading the journals. She could imagine that they would not only provide her with a wealth of knowledge and understanding on everything that was lurking in the dark, ready to attack her. But would also help her prepare for those attacks.

However, Emma had also seen Gold unpack those journals. There were never more than two that looked identical. A watcher would begin their journal when their slayer was called, and would end them when the slayer’s journey ended. Which meant that most of the slayers from the past few hundred years hadn’t lived long enough to fill more than two journals.

Emma might have been ready to accept her duties as a slayer, but she definitely wasn’t ready to confront her own mortality.

“Well, these are promising,” Gold declared, as he looked over the numbers that charted Emma’s progress throughout the morning.

“Does that mean you’re finally gonna start training me?” she asked. It wasn’t that Emma was against the workouts he’d been putting her through. She’d actually felt good about doing them. It was more that she was itching for him to show her something real, so she could get out on the streets and put that knowledge to some use.

“I guess so,” Gold agreed, as he pushed his glasses a little further up his nose. “But Emma, this is not something we should be rushing into. This is a whole new world for you. We need to take the time to ease you into this gently. To give you the best chance we possibly can.”

“And how many people will die until then?” she snapped back. Gold’s face fell a little, and she knew she was on to a winning argument. “You brought me into this world. And now I need to start doing my job. I checked the papers _every day_ this week, to see if anyone had died while you’d been making me read about vampire lore, and taking my damned blood pressure. I _need_ to be out there, Gold. Before someone else gets hurt.”

Gold’s face softened a little at her impassioned plea, but he still looked reluctant to rush into anything. Emma knew that he was only doing his best to protect her. But she also knew that she’d never be able to live with herself, if someone died because she wasn’t out there doing her job.

So she decided to land her killer blow.

“If you’re not gonna train me, I can always ask Killian to do it.”

“Who’s Killian?” Zelena and August called out. They had both been stood around a little awkwardly, as they listened to the argument taking place in front of them. They knew why Gold was reluctant to rush into training Emma, and they had both had their own fight over whether or not he was right to hold back on their friend. But neither one of them wanted to step between the watcher and his slayer.

“He’s just some guy I met in town,” Emma sighed. “He saved my life a few days ago.”

“Is he a slayer too?” August asked.

“No. There is only ever one slayer,” Gold stated firmly.

“So how do we know he can be trusted?” August had clearly lost interest in the weapons he had been sorting, as he was now stood just outside of the cage with his arms folded across his chest.

“Because he saved my life,” Emma explained hotly. “I’m pretty sure if he was only out to kill me, he’d have done it by now. Or let that vampire do it for him. Plus, he was the one who warned me about the danger Zelena was in,” she added, knowing that would help soften August’s stance on the man.

“So he’s on our side?” Zelena asked softly.

“Yeah. He is.”

Emma’s tone left absolutely no room for arguments in that statement.

* * *

“Hey,” David greeted, lifting his head from the paper to watch as his daughter strolled into the kitchen later that afternoon. “Where have you been all morning?”

“Just out with friends. Are you not working today?”

Emma hadn’t seen much of her father since they had arrived in Stroybrooke. But she knew that wouldn’t last forever. Once David had the station back on its feet, and running to his liking, she knew he’d start cutting back his hours. She just wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon.

“I gave myself the morning off,” he explained. “I wanna see how my deputies handle things without me for a few hours. And I thought I could have lunch with my daughter while I waited.”

Emma flicked her eyes over to the clock on the oven and cringed a little at the time it showed. She’d missed lunch by a good few hours. “Sorry, Dad. Is it too late?”

“It’s never too late for a lunch date with my princess,” he promised her, folding away the paper to stand. “I made a pasta salad, is that okay?”

“Perfect,” she assured him, as she slid onto one of the stools at the breakfast bar.

While David busied himself with fixing them both a bowl of food, and a glass of juice, Emma pulled the paper towards herself to thumb through it. It hadn’t been delivered in time for her to scan that morning, but she would have assumed that any sudden and odd deaths would have at least made one of the first five pages. So she breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she realized that there were once again no mentions of any kind of death in town.

“So, you’ve made friends already?” David asked, when he’d finally taken his own seat once more.

“Only a couple. But I think they’re gonna be good friends.”

David nodded his agreement as he took a moment to enjoy his meal, before finally asking the question that every father dreaded asking their teenage daughter. “Would any of those friends happen to be male?”

Emma snorted at her father’s lack of tact, and gave him a few moments to sweat it out while she ate in silence. “One of them is a guy,” she confirmed. “His name’s August. He and Zelena have been friends since they were babies. But I don’t think he’s the kind of male friend you’re asking about, is he?”

“I’m um… I’m glad you’re settling in well,” David deflected.

He’d worried that pulling Emma out of school and moving her across the state would lead to his daughter resenting him. He knew that she was at that place in her life where sudden changes could lead to a fracture in their relationship. But David should have known he’d have nothing to worry about. Emma had always been good at making friends and fitting in. Of course she’d already managed to achieve both of those goals, less than a month into her move to Storybrooke.

“I’m hoping these long shifts won’t last much longer,” he offered. “I hate leaving you alone so long.”

“It’s okay,” Emma assured her father. She already knew he felt bad enough about everything that had led to their move to the small town. She didn’t want to make him feel any worse about the situation. “I’m having fun exploring Storybrooke. And there’s an under-twenty-one’s club that my friends visit often. So it’s not like I’m sat home alone in the dark.”

David stood from his seat to move his empty dish over to the dishwasher, but detoured to place a kiss to his daughter’s forehead as he passed her. “I promise we’ll do something fun together when things ease up at work.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

* * *

Emma spent an hour at home with her father, helping him decide on a color to paint the kitchen, before he finally left for work that evening. She then spent a further hour alone in her bedroom, working on all of the homework she’d been set that week. While the library was calling to her, along with the promise of fight training that Gold had reluctantly agreed to before she’d left that afternoon, she didn’t want to start falling behind on any of her school work either. That would only make David worry. And Emma didn’t want to add to her father’s list of current concerns.

By the time she left her house the sun had already set, and darkness was beginning to draw in around Storybrooke.

But there was something different about it that evening.

Emma could feel it prickling at her skin, raising the hairs on her arms. She was certain she wasn’t being followed. She didn’t know how she knew it, she just did.

But there was definitely something _wrong_ in Storybrooke that evening.

She pulled the stake from her jacket pocket and grasped it firmly in her hand, as she picked up her speed. Emma practically jogged her way to the high school, and then through its corridors to get to the familiar comfort of the library.

“Emma?” Gold asked, when she pushed through the doors with far more force than was needed. Zelena and August were already there, and their heads snapped round to face their friend at her dramatic entrance.

“Can you feel that?” she asked.

“Feel what?” Gold closed the book he had open in his hands and placed it gently down onto the counter, as he took a step closer to her.

“There’s something wrong,” Emma declared firmly. She didn’t care how insane it made her sound. Every fiber of her being could feel it.

“What do you mean?” Zelena asked, as she stood from her place at the table. She looked a little confused by her friend’s cryptic words, and a hell of a lot more concerned by them.

Before Emma could open her mouth to reply, the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. The trembles built into something much stronger, shaking the foundations of the school as the books around them began falling from their shelves, and to the floor.

August pulled Zelena over to the doorway of Gold’s office, keeping her tucked firmly into his chest, as Gold reached for the counter to keep himself on his feet.

But as quickly as it had begun, the trembles stopped. Leaving the ground beneath them firm and solid once more.

“Earthquake?” Zelena asked, as she looked between her friends and the older librarian.

They weren’t unheard of in the state, but they were rarely large enough to cause buildings move.

“No. That was not an earthquake,” came another voice from somewhere behind her, hidden in the shadows of the stacks.

A voice that Emma recognized all too well.

“It was the Hellmouth.”


	8. Chapter 7

“We’ve had this conversation before,” Emma sighed, as she pushed away from the counter and folded her arms over her chest. “Normal people call, not lurk in the shadows waiting for people’s lives to go to hell.”

Whatever was going on was clearly important, as Killian didn’t bother to acknowledge her quips. Instead, he slowly made his way out of the darkness, stepping into the light offered by the lower floor of the library.

Zelena might have gasped a little in shock when her eyes first landed on him.

But August and Gold’s features seemed to harden at the presence of the intruder, as they both widened their stances and folded their own arms over their chests. Emma sighed a little at their needless display of machoism, as she turned her attention back to Killian.

“What’s a Hellmouth?”

“You’re standing on it,” he replied simply. “This whole town was built over one.”

“Okay… and is that as bad as it sounds?”

Killian turned a withering look towards her watcher. One that clearly screamed _why have you not taught her this already?_ Before he moved his attention back to the slayer in the room.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like. An entrance to the mouth of hell. And it’s preparing to open and swallow us all.”

“How do you know this?” Gold asked, taking a step forward to get a better look at the mysterious man that seemed to have taken such an interest in his slayer. The name still felt familiar to him, but he couldn’t place the face attached to it.

“I read,” Killian replied, tossing an old book onto the table below him. “There’s a legend passed amongst the undead. Nobody really believed it to be true, but after tonight… the whispers have already started.”

“Whispers? What whispers?” Emma took another small step forward, drawn to Killian as she always had been. She watched from the corner of her eye as Gold leaned in to snatch up the book that the newcomer had brought over with him, but she kept most of her focus on the other Brit in the room.

“They say there’s a vampire trapped down there. One of the oldest of their kind. He’s been imprisoned for so long that he doesn’t even resemble a human anymore. The legend says he came the closest to opening the Hellmouth. But that a freak earthquake trapped him inside of a church down there. And that it’s been draining his powers ever since. If his followers are here, and if the legend is true… then we’re all doomed.”

“Wow. You are just full of sunshine and roses,” Emma muttered, as she scrubbed a harsh hand over her eyes.

She’d _just_ gotten settled into her new town, and she’d only _just_ started accepting her fate. Now it seemed like she would need to deal with some kind of super vampire looking to kill them all, while still trying to fit in at school; attempt to get good grades so she could get into a decent college; not make her father suspicious with her new job title; _and_ attempt to maintain a somewhat normal life.

Things really couldn’t get much worse.

“What do you suggest we do?” she asked, turning her eyes back up to the spot Killian had been stood in moments before. Because it was obvious he knew more about this situation than Gold did.

But he’d already disappeared.

“Fantastic. You know… regular people say bye too,” she yelled into the darkness, hoping that he’d still be close enough to hear her. The way he just sort of appeared out of nowhere, and then disappeared into thin air, was becoming less mysterious and more annoying.

Nobody said anything for the longest moment. The only sound in the room came from Gold, as he flicked through the pages of the book while everyone else took their time absorbing the information that they’d just received.

August was the first to break the silence, as he asked, “So… that was Killian? Is he always so chatty?”

Emma shook her head to clear her amusement, before she turned her full attention to Gold. At some point, he had dropped down into a chair at the large conference table. He was currently cradling his head in his hand, as he flicked through the pages that Killian had helpfully marked for them.

“What does it say?” Emma asked softly. When he said nothing in return she raised her voice a little. “Hey! Slayer to watcher. What does the book say?”

“I um… I need to place some calls,” Gold muttered in response, as he stood from the table and turned back to his office. All without removing his eyes from the book.

“That can’t be good, right?”

Emma’s friends shook their heads to agree with her theory as she threw herself down into her own seat at the table, next to where Zelena was sat. It didn’t take long for August to turn his attention back to the weapons cage, and another shipment that needed unpacking. But Zelena looked a little too distracted to continue with her reading.

Emma waited patiently for her friend to speak, and she wasn’t disappointed by the words that eventually left the redhead’s mouth.

“So… Killian’s kinda hot.”

* * *

While Gold took his time, shut away in his office placing phone calls, Emma and her friends fired off quick messages to their parents. They knew that after the earthquake, everyone would be worried about their safety. And the last thing they wanted to do was scare the people that loved them most.

Once the messages were sent, the three teenagers spent some time chatting together about anything that was _not_ slayer related. After the heavy news Killian had delivered, they all seemed to recognize that the others needed some kind of normalcy in their lives. And gossiping about Regina and her friends was the best way to achieve that.

After an hour without word from Gold, Zelena eventually drifted back to her watcher’s journals, while August made his way over to the weapon’s cage, pulling out what appeared to be a set of nunchakus to practice throwing around. Emma excused herself from the group, needing a moment just to freshen herself up. She left the library with a promise to return soon with snack, and made her way down the familiar halls of the school to the nearest restroom.

* * *

“Jesus Christ,” she yelled, as she pushed her way back out moments later, to find a dark figure leaning against the wall opposite the door. “Lurk much?”

“My apologies. I was sure you’d have sensed me here.”

“Yeah, well… I didn’t,” she threw back at him. “Wait. Have you been here all along?”

“No,” Killian replied simply. “It’s chaos out there tonight. Someone has to make sure that nobody is getting hurt. Fortunately, the presence of your father and his deputies seems to have sent most of the undead underground. But I can’t guarantee it won’t stay that way.”

“My dad? Is he safe?” Emma worried.

She knew that David could more than take care of himself in most situations. But her father didn’t even know that vampires existed. So he would have no idea what he was walking into if one of them decided to attack. And he’d have no idea how to fight them off either.

“He’s fine. Do you honestly think I’d leave him out there alone if I thought he were in any kind of real danger?”

Emma didn’t know much about Killian, but she knew that he was telling the truth in that moment. Whatever it was that had drawn him to her, compelling him to offer his help, was also offering to help keep the people she loved safe. And Emma would forever be grateful to him for that.

“I can’t stay long, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That would have been a lot for the most experienced slayer to take in. I can’t imagine how scary it must be for someone new to this world,” he explained, looking down to the toes of his boots. He seemed almost shy in that moment, a complete contrast to the cocky guy Emma had first met in town.

“I’m okay. I mean sure, this ultimate vampire guy sounds terrifying, and I don’t even wanna think about what lurks in a Hellmouth. But I um… Gold is placing some calls. I guess to see just how true this legend is. He agreed to start my training this morning, so I’m gonna try and make sure we get some in tonight. You shouldn’t be out on the streets alone right now.”

Killian nodded his head in agreement, but Emma wasn’t sure if he was agreeing that it was a good idea to begin her training, or that he shouldn’t be fighting alone.

“A slayer would definitely help right now. Most of the vamps in this town don’t realize that there’s one here. It would certainly help to keep the younger ones in order.”

“Well… you could always spread the word,” she teased.

“Swan,” he chuckled, shaking his head fondly as that cocky smirk began creeping in once more. “I don’t leave survivors to spread word. You should know that by now.”

That smirk was far more attractive than it had any right to be, and Emma felt herself swaying into his space subconsciously.

“I um… I should get back to the others,” she suddenly declared, realizing just how close they were. She could feel the cool exhales of his breath against her neck. “I promised them snacks, so they’re probably getting antsy right about now.”

“Of course.”

Killian pushed himself off the wall as Emma took a few large steps back to put some space between them. When she turned down the corridor, headed towards one of the vending machines located close to the library, he finally followed after her. But he paused for a moment when she stopped to insert some cash into the machine, before carefully making her selections.

“Be careful out there tonight, Killian.” Emma didn’t turn from the machine as she spoke. She knew that there was something about the guy that intrigued her. Something that drew her to his presence, even if she didn’t fully understand why. There was some instinct buried inside of her that would compel her to follow him out of the building, and to wherever it was he was going, if she allowed it to take over.

“I always am.” He offered her a cheeky wink which she caught out of the side of her eye, before he finally turned on his heels to leave once more.

It was only when he was close to the main entrance that he stopped. Emma had been gathering her haul from the bottom of the machine, but she turned to face him when she realized that he had, curious about what was keeping him from disappearing on her once more.

“If you still want someone to train with, meet me at the mansion by the lake tomorrow after sunset.”

He left before Emma could respond to his offer.

But they both knew he didn’t need to hang around to hear her answer.

She’d be at that mansion tomorrow evening just before sundown, waiting for his arrival.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Sorry for the delay with this one. I wasn't happy with how Emma was coming across, so I had to do a lot of tinkering to get that balance right.**

“Is everything okay?” Zelena asked, as Emma shouldered her way back into the library, and deposited the armful of snacks she was carrying onto the large table for them to pick through. “You were kinda gone for a while.”

“Yeah, sorry. I um… I got a little distracted. Is everything okay here?”

Before Zelena could say anything else, the door to Gold’s office opened and the three teenagers stopped what they were doing to turn and face the librarian.

“Well?” Emma prodded, when he had remained silent for a beat too long.

“It’s true,” he stated quietly. “The Council have confirmed that Storybrooke is built over a Hellmouth.”

“And they didn’t think that this would be important information to tell you _before_ you came here?” Emma snapped back, folding her arms over her chest. She knew it wasn’t Gold’s fault that his employers had withheld crucial information from them both. But as she’d never met the Council, (who seemed to know and withhold far too much information, in her honest opinion), so Gold would have to suffer the brunt of her ire.

“They weren’t expecting someone to try and open it so soon,” he shot back at her, before deflating a little when he realised that he’d just snapped at a teenage girl. “As for the rest of the legend, they can neither confirm nor deny it. But they have heard about the vampire in question. He’s known to his followers as ‘The Master.’ There may be books here I’ve not yet unpacked that could help us work out more about him, but the official records indicate that if he does exist, he’s never faced a slayer before.”

“So after all of that, all we know for sure is that there’s a Hellmouth somewhere under our feet. But we don’t know if there’s some kind of über-vamp down there, trapped in a church, who’s gonna try and kill us all?” Emma asked, just to clarify how much shit they’d found themselves in.

“Yes. That seems to be the gist of it all.”

“Great. So what do you suggest we do now?”

“We hit the books,” Gold declared, a little too gleefully for Emma’s liking.

“And what if we can’t find anything in them?” she pressed. “Look, I’m not trying to be difficult, okay. But Killian says it’s chaos on the streets tonight. And my father’s out there trying to control it, unaware of what’s going on. I can’t just sit here and do nothing, knowing my dad is out there unprotected.”

“You saw Killian again?” August asked, as he took a step closer to the table. “Does the guy just follow you everywhere you go? Because that’s a little creepy.”

“Does it matter?” Emma snapped back, turning the full force of her glare onto her friend. “At least he’s trying to do _something_ right now. That’s more than anyone else is doing around here.”

August raised his arms in surrender, before dropping down into the seat she had previously vacated, next to Zelena.

“I understand that you’re frustrated, Emma,” Gold began gently. He seemed to realise that his young slayer was close to her breaking point that evening, and that he needed to handle things carefully for the rest of the day, if he had any hopes of keeping her on their side. “But in situations such as this, we need to proceed with caution. A few days of research to confirm that this Master is actually a foe we need to be concerned about, is beneficial to us all. Killian informed us that the legend speaks of him being one of the eldest of his kind. If that’s true, then it’s entirely possible that he will have some kind of skills and abilities that we won’t be prepared for. A little research will help us avoid running into a situation we don’t know, and aren’t ready for.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that someone needs to be out on the streets, making sure people aren’t getting hurt,” she countered. “Look, I’m not opposed to researching this Master guy if it needs to be done. I get it. I get the whole knowledge is power angle that you’re going for here. But I also need to do _something_ , Gold. I need to be out there stopping things from happening. And I need you train me to make sure I can do that.”

“Okay,” he eventually agreed. “We’ll begin your training tomorrow evening. Tonight, I need to finish unpacking the books I had shipped over with me, so I can try and find any that may be useful for our research.”

“I can’t do tomorrow night,” she sighed, flicking a glance down to the table top between them. “I’m meeting Kilian. He promised to work on my training with me if you wouldn’t.”

Gold didn’t look too happy about the idea of his slayer working with someone else. Especially not someone he knew so little about, and certainly didn’t trust at that point in time. But if he’d learned anything about Emma since he’d first met the feisty slayer, it was that expressing his displeasure would only end up causing a bigger rift to open between the two of them.

And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“So be it,” he declared, before turning his attention back to where Zelena and August had been watching the entire exchange unfold. “If you two have the evening free and wish to help, I could certainly use it.”

“I’ll be here,” Zelena assured him, as August nodded reluctantly along with her.

* * *

Emma spent the rest of her Saturday evening working with August to unpack the remainder of the books Gold had shipped over to the USA with him. While the two of them unboxed everything, Zelena and the librarian worked to sort through each of the texts, arranging the books into three piles; one for general use, one for slayer work, and one that looked like it might contain some kind of information on either the Hellmouth, or the Master.

* * *

“Good morning,” David greeted, as he leaned down to press a kiss to his daughter’s head. “I’m sorry I was so late back last night. The earthquake brought out all of the crazies in town. You’re definitely okay, right?”

“I’m fine,” Emma assured him, as she stood to fetch the warm plate of food she’d placed into the oven for him, when she’d been preparing breakfast for herself. “What about you? You didn’t get hurt last night, did you?”

“I was fine,” he chuckled. “I’ve been doing this for years, remember? A couple of high schoolers looking to cause trouble aren’t going to get the best of me any time soon.”

Emma forced herself to laugh at her father’s joke, while she blinked away images of fangs sinking into his neck. She was already counting down the hours until she could leave to meet Killian. As much as her instincts told her that Gold could (and should) be trusted, she got the feeling that the much younger British man would be far more effective when it came to the physical side of her training, than the school’s librarian would ever be.

Killian exuded an air of confidence and experience when it came to the actual slaying of vampires. Whereas Emma still wasn’t sure if Gold had ever faced one in person before.

But that didn’t stop her from feeling bad that she was basically abandoning her watcher and friends for the evening. So after spending a relaxing morning with her father, alternating between watching episodes of their favourite TV shows, Emma packed up her stuff to head to the library once more, when David left for work.

She wasn’t surprised to find Zelena and August already there, sat on opposite sides of the large conference table with laptops and books spread between the two of them, as Gold worked quietly at the far end.

“Anything yet?” she asked softly.

“Emma?” Zelena exclaimed, as she lifted her head from the book it had been buried in. “You’re here?”

“Yeah, well… I’m not meeting Killian until after sunset. So I thought I’d come and give you guys a hand with the research before that. Knowledge is power, and all that jazz.”

Gold pulled his own attention away from the frankly ancient looking text he was reading to offer her a small smile, as August began clearing a spot for the slayer opposite her watcher.

“We’ve um… we’ve found a few things that look promising,” Zelena explained, as she pulled one of the books from the center of the table to show to her friend. The double-page spread consisted of one drawing, which looked like a large crater in the ground. But there were a lot of tentacles spilling out from inside of it.

“Yeah,” August chuckled, as he took in the disgusted look on his friend’s face. “That was exactly how I felt too. That’s probably the strangest one we’ve seen so far. But there are a fair few of them.”

“What am I looking at?” she asked, as she pulled another book towards herself, with yet another illustration on the page. This time, it depicted some grotesque looking creature that her brain was struggling to comprehend. There were far too many arms and eyes coming from what should have been a human body.

“The Hellmouth,” Gold answered. “Or at least, artist renditions of it. So far, from what I’ve been able to translate, nobody’s ever survived entering one to give an accurate description of it. And of course, nobody’s ever succeeded in truly opening one before.”

“So these are just suggestions?” Emma was kind of relieved to hear that the giant tentacle monster and forty-three eyed, twelve-armed creatures didn’t actually exist.

“They’re artist depictions of translations of some of the many legends regarding the Hellmouth. And there are plenty more that have not yet been translated.” Gold pushed his glasses up to rest on top of his head as he pinched the bride of his nose. Emma hadn’t realised how tired he looked until he did.

“Did you get any sleep last night?” she wondered softly.

“I haven’t left the building yet,” Gold chuckled bitterly. “But don’t worry about me, Emma. I’m sure with you here to help, the process will go a lot faster today.”

Emma pulled her own laptop from her bag to plug it in and switch it on, before she asked, “Okay. So where do I start?”


	10. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Sorry for the delay with this one. I'm gonna try and aim to update it every other Wednesday instead of every Friday, as Fridays are just too busy for our household at the moment.**
> 
> **I also apologise if there are any mistakes with this one. During my last re-read a massive spider decided to make it's presence known in my house, and I am currently trying to decide how to kill it when it comes out of hiding.**

Emma was grateful for Zelena’s extensive knowledge of the town, as she made her way over to the large mansion on the outskirts of it. She’d never been to that part of Storybrooke before, but she assumed once she took on the full responsibilities of her new title, it wouldn’t take her long to get to know it all.

The mansion Killian had asked her to meet him at was unmissable. Its stately form loomed large in the distance, overlooking the only lake in town. It was clearly a beautiful home, at one point in time, but it was obvious the building was now abandoned. The hedges and lawns were overgrown; most of the windows had been smashed, with some boarded up and others left open to the elements; and there were large cracks in some of the exterior walls.

Emma assumed that Killian had picked it for its remote location and space, rather than its visual appeal.

“Hello?” she called out, as she made her way through one of the rotten doors into what was left of the interior. The ceiling had caved-in at some point in time, but it looked like someone had cleared away the debris from incident. “Killian?”

“To your left,” he called out calmly, startling Emma a little.

She turned through the first opening in the direction his voice had originated from, and emerge into a large room that appeared to have survived whatever ills had befallen the rest of the house. There was some furniture inside of the room that was covered in large dust sheets, and pushed against the walls. But the main space was completely free, and in the middle of it all stood Killian, wearing a pair of dark jeans and a black vest.

“Nice place,” she teased. “Not terribly romantic though.”

“Well you didn’t seem to enjoy our first date in the cemetery, so I thought you might appreciate this a little more. I brought candles.” He finally turned to look her way and Emma swallowed hard at the sight of that cocky smirk tugging at his lips.

“Thanks. I appreciate that.” She dropped her bag down to the floor near the wall, before rocking back on her heels. While she’d been looking forward to the promised training session all day, now that she was stood in front of him, she was suddenly feeling a little nervous.

“Has your watcher found out anything that could be useful for stopping The Master’s rising?”

“Not yet. He said The Council can’t confirm that The Master exists, which makes it hard to find information on who he is and what he wants.” Gold had told her much the same thing when she’d asked about their progress earlier that day. Their lack of information seemed to be frustrating him, just as much as it was her.

“Who he is, is not important. It’s what he wants, that is,” Killian explained, as he made his way over to where she was stood. “He cannot be allowed to open the Hellmouth. That must be prevented at all costs.”

“Well, if you have any tips on how to do that, I’m listening,” she quipped. When Killian remained silent for a beat too long, Emma added, “Yeah. I didn’t think so. Now… how do you wanna do this?”

He looked a little startled by her words, until he shook his head firmly to clear it and then took a step back to put some distance between the two of them. Emma hadn’t realized how close they had been standing until that moment.

“I think hand-to-hand combat is a good place to start, Swan.” Killian took another large step back to put himself in the center of the room as he asked, “Have you been in many fights before?”

“Before I moved here? No. Never.” She took her own tentative step forward until she was stood just in front of him, as Killian’s smile widened.

“Don’t look so worried,” he teased. “If anyone’s gonna end up battered and bruised at the end of this session it’ll be me. Not you.”

“I think you’re severely over-estimating my skills,” Emma chuckled.

“I think you’re severely _under_ -estimating your skills,” he countered.

* * *

“Again,” Killian commanded, as Emma dropped her hands down to her knees.

“Just give me a minute,” she panted.

She thought she’d done pretty well the other evening, protecting her friends and slaying a vampire in the process. But when facing off against a much more skilled fighter like Killian, Emma’s lack of experience became obvious.

“You won’t have a minute if your opponent is a bloodthirsty vampire. _Again_.”

Emma’s eyes narrowed as she raised them to meet his, before she pulled herself back up to her full height, and brought her arms up to protect her face. Killian moved first, darting in closer on the tips of his toes as he lashed out in Emma’s direction. But she was able to easily block the hit aimed for her abdomen. The second and third came in quick succession, and she blocked those too. However, when she made her own move to attack him, Killian landed a hard blow to her ribs, before following it up by sweeping her legs out from underneath her.

Again.

Emma landed on her back with a dull thud, and a much louder groan of pain. She was going to have a painful bruise when she woke the next morning.

“You’re not thinking this through,” he chided.

“What more is there to think about than dodging your fists?” she yelled back at him.

“You need to watch your opponent,” he explained, offering his hand to help pull her to her feet. “You need to watch the subtle movements they make. That’s what will show you where the next blow is coming from. Watch their stance, see which side they favor. Notice those minute shifts that tell you when they’re getting ready to move, and how. Don’t let yourself be distracted by their extremities.”

“The extremities are more likely to hit me,” she snapped back.

“Not if you focus on the attacker, instead of their flying fists. You can judge just how skilled and experienced a vampire is, based on their posture. Now, come on, Swan. And _focus_ this time. You can do this. I _know_ you can. Find that place inside of you that already knows what’s it’s doing. _Use_ it.”

“I’m trying to!”

Emma had thought her instincts would kick in the moment Killian had landed his first blow. But either she hadn’t fully found that place yet, or he was far too skilled for her to beat.

“Focus, Emma. It’s all in there.”

He gave her a moment to calm herself down, taking deep breaths in to center herself, before he moved. The first strike caught her shoulder, but she countered pretty well with two of her own to his gut. In doing so she’d thrown her posture off, which enabled him to catch her across her back, forcing her to double over and into the knee he had waiting to bring up into her chest.

Emma stumbled back from the combination of blows, struggling to keep herself on her feet.

“You’re not trying hard enough, Swan.”

“I’m doing my best,” she growled out, as she rushed at him. While the action itself wasn’t terribly well thought out, it did result in her desired outcome, and Killian ended up falling backwards with a hard thud, as she landed on top of him.

But apparently their session wouldn’t end there, as he wrapped an arm around her waist to quickly flip them over, and then pinned her hands above her head.

“Seriously?” he asked, as he looked down into her red and slightly sweaty face. By contrast, Killian’s breathing wasn’t even labored, and he certainly wasn’t sweating. “Brute force will only get you so far.”

“You pissed me off,” she shot back, struggling against his grip.

“And you think vampires out to kill you won’t piss you off?” He arched an eyebrow down at her and Emma ceased her struggling to glare up at him. “You need to be prepared for _anything_ , Emma. I’m not saying this to piss you off, I’m saying it because I _care_. If The Master really is down there, trying to open the Hellmouth, then his follower will be here too. They’re old, experienced, strong vampires. You _need_ to be prepared.”

“I’m trying,” she assured him. “I really am. I’m just… this isn’t the kind of person I used to be. It’s not easy for me.”

“It’s not supposed to be easy, Emma. But it should be instinctual. This is inside of you. We’ve both seen it in action. You need to learn how to access that knowledge when you’re not in a life or death situation, because by that point in time, it might be too late.”

The look of concern that briefly flashed across his face startled Emma, and it was in that moment that she truly understood Killian’s motivation behind everything he’d done since she had arrived in town.

“Who are you?” she whispered, as he relaxed his grip on her hands and turned his head away.

“Just someone who’s trying to help. Someone who wants to make amends.”

“Why me?” she asked softly.

Killian finally turned his head back to meet her eyes, as he opened his mouth to answer her question.

But the words wouldn’t come.

Instead, he closed the distance between the two of them to press his lips softly against her own.


	11. Chapter 10

Emma allowed herself a moment to savour the feel of his cool lips against her own, moving gently but with the kind of confidence that could only come from experience. She kissed him back with the same kind of tenderness, savouring that unique flavour that seemed to coat every inch of him, as she reached up to run her fingers through his hair.

But when Killian groaned low in the back of his throat, all of her senses seemed to snap back into place, and she realized just how little she knew about the man whose kisses were currently making her dizzy, while he had her pinned to the floor.

“Stop,” she gasped out, pushing firmly against his chest. “Stop.”

“I’m sorry. I thought…”

“Yeah, well… you thought wrong,” she snapped back at him. “I’ve told you before, I’m not that kind of girl.”

Killian pulled himself up and off Emma to give her some space, as he watched her push herself to her feet.

As soon as she was standing, she turned her back to him as she attempted to control her harsh breathing and gather her wits. Emma didn’t want him to see just how much he’d affected her, because she knew that if he did, she wouldn’t be able to maintain any kind of distance between the two of them.

“Look… I came to you because you seem to know what you’re doing here,” she told him, turning back to face him with a look of determination set into her features. “I’m not here for a relationship, and _certainly_ not with someone who won’t tell me anything about themselves.”

“You know more about me than most people do,” he mumbled quietly.

Emma chose to pretend that she hadn’t heard him, as she continued speaking. “If you can’t help me with this whole slayer gig, then I’ll wait until Gold can.”

“I can help you,” he assured her, in a much louder and far more confident tone. “It won’t happen again.”

“Good. But I um… I think I should probably leave.”

“You don’t have to go,” Killian told her, as he took a small step forward. He wanted to reach out for her, but he knew that physical contact wouldn’t go down well in that moment, so instead, he balled his hands into fists. “We could um… how about we hit the streets?” he asked instead. “I can show you some of the places that vamps tend to frequent, and maybe we can kill some bad guys before the night is over?”

Emma considered the offer for a minute. A large part of her brain was screaming that she should put some distance between the two of them, after what had happened. But another part was urging her to accept any and all forms of training being offered to her.

In the end, it was the slayer within her that won the battle.

“Okay,” she agreed. “Is there somewhere around here I could wash up first?”

“Third door on the right.”

* * *

When they left the mansion together it was in a tense silence, as Killian made sure to keep a good distance between the two of them. He didn’t want Emma to get the wrong idea about his intentions, but he refused to stay too far away. He knew that the streets of Storybrooke could be dangerous after dark, so he wanted to remain close enough the slayer, in case of an ambush.

“The cemeteries are always a good place to start,” he told her. “Any freshly turned vampires can normally be killed before they have a chance to leave their own graves, thanks to how confused and sluggish they are.”

“Okay. Cemeteries - check. How many are there in this town?”

“Four,” Killian replied simply, as Emma’s eyes widened in horror. “At opposite corners of the town too.”

“Of course they are,” she sighed. “Because putting them next to each other would make things _far_ too easy.”

“It’s the Hellmouth,” Killian argued. “Did you really expect it to be easy?”

“Shush with your logic and… stuff,” Emma threw back at him, enjoying that hint of playful banter once more. It was reassuring after the tense way their patrol had begun. “Is there some sort of order in which I should check those out?”

“Make sure you grab a copy of the Storybrooke Mirror each day. That will list the most recent obituaries, and where each person will be buried. Those that have clearly died from natural causes you won’t need to worry about. But anything that sounds like an animal attack, or a brutal murder… anything suspicious is what you’re looking for. Go to those cemeteries first.”

“Check the obituaries,” she noted. “It’s a good job Dad decided to subscribe to the paper the old-fashioned way. I should probably apologise to him for mocking that decision.”

“Is there a ‘new-fashioned’ way to subscribe to a paper?” Killian wondered.

“You’re joking, right? Have you heard of the internet? Because, believe it or not, it’s not all porn on there. There are actually websites that report the news too.”

Killian chuckled a little at Emma’s tone, as he argued, “Have you met the editor for the Storybrooke Mirror? Because he does _not_ look like a man who got past the porn part of the internet when he was exploring it.”

“Eww, thanks for that disturbing mental image,” she grimaced. But Emma couldn’t help but laugh a little as she did.

She’d forgotten how easy being around Killian could be.

However, the moment they rounded the corner onto the street that would lead them down to the closest cemetery, all of their humour died. Both Emma and Killian could feel that subtle charge in the air. One that told them there was some kind of supernatural being in the area.

And it was coming from the graveyard.

Emma pulled out the stake she’d brought with her, holding it firmly in her right hand, as she watched Killian take out one of his own.

“Is there more than one?” she whispered to her partner. They had begun silently edging closer to the cemetery, following that pull of supernatural energy that was drawing them in.

“I can’t be sure,” he replied, as his eyes scanned the surrounding areas. “The paper reported two, but vampires like to feed. Either way, it’s always better to err on the side of caution.”

Emma wanted to protest over his secret keeping once more. She wanted to tell him than he should have mentioned the reports in the paper, and his suspicions about what they would find that evening. But she knew the moment wasn’t right for either of them to be distracted by a petty fight. If two humans had been turned, and were already out, then they would need to stay sharp and focused.

It didn’t take them long to find the source of the unease that had settled over them both. A small group of vampires were sat on top of some kind of monument, in the middle of the graveyard. They looked to be having a lively discussion about something, and hadn’t yet noticed the intruders on the scene.

Emma made a move to inch closer to them, hoping that she would hear what was being said. But Killian’s arm shot out fast to latch onto her own with surprising strength, as he held her in place. He shook his head firmly whilst raising his other hand to place a finger to his lips, but his eyes never left the group of vampires in front of them.

The worry she could see behind his gaze had Emma swallowing back her own fear, as she wondered what it was that he knew about the group, that she didn’t.

Killian kept a tight grip on her arm until someone let out a loud and feminine laugh, and the vampires in front of them quickly began to scatter.

Emma hadn’t noticed the smaller one in the middle of the group. She was the only female there, and was dressed rather provocatively in what could only be described as Catholic-School-girl-kink. Emma watched as she played seductively with the end of one of the braids she’d tied her hair into, before she practically skipped from the cemetery, taking that feeling of unease with her.

“What the hell?” Emma demanded, the moment she was sure they were alone. “We could have followed her to see where she was going. She might have given us some kind of information about the Master.”

“We were down-wind,” Killian pointed out. “The moment a breeze came along, she’d have known she was being followed. Those were _not_ new vampires, Emma. They were old ones. Skilled ones. Vampires who have probably hunted slayers for sport. They are _not_ the kind of people you need to be messing around with right now.”

“And how do you know that?” she demanded, arching a judgemental brow in his direction.

Killian sighed heavily and Emma could see his mind racing, even as he remained silent.

There was something else he wasn’t telling her.

“The female vampire,” he eventually replied. “I know her.”


	12. Chapter 11

“You know her?” Emma asked, her tone conveying her utter disbelief at his words. “You know a vampire? How?”

“It’s a long story,” Killian deflected.

“The CliffsNotes version will do.” She folded her arms across her chest in a way that told him she wasn’t planning to go anywhere, until he started giving her some answers.

Killian cast a look around the empty cemetery, almost as if he was hoping some kind of explanation would jump out at him. When he turned to face Emma once more, that look of determination was set into his features again, as he said, “We used to be friends.”

“Friends or _friends_?”

His lack of reply told her more than any of his words ever could.

“You dated a vampire?”

“She wasn’t a vampire when I met her,” he explained, his tone dripping with his frustration. “And that was a long time ago, Emma. So can we just drop this, please? She’s not the kind of person you need to be getting caught up with right now.”

An uncomfortable silence seemed to settle between the two of them, and for the longest moment, Killian dared to hope that the young slayer would accept his answers and drop the subject.

He should have known better than to believe that.

Emma Swan might have been many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

“How?”

“How what?” he asked, a little confused about where the conversation was going.

“How could you have known her _before_ she became a vampire?” she pressed. “I thought you said she was one of the old ones.”

A horrifying realization was beginning to settle over the slayer, and she found herself taking a small step back as it did.

“Emma,” Killian began softly, sensing that change in her stance. “It’s not…”

“It’s not what? What lies are you going to feed to me next, Killian?” she asked, her voice rising a little with her anger.

Because the answer that was screaming at her couldn’t possibly be the explanation that she was searching for.

_It just couldn’t be._

Killian opened his mouth to reply but Emma held up a hand to stop him before he could. “Just… just don’t,” she told him, as she fought hard against the tears that were beginning to form. “No more lies, Killian. If you respect me at all, if you _care_ about me at all… I need you to show me. Prove to me that what I’m currently thinking isn’t true. _Please_.”

Killian’s eyes slid closed at the tremor her voice was carrying. He knew what she was asking of him, and he knew that it would be the make or break moment for their friendship. A part of him wished that he could turn back time, and take everything back, so that he could reveal his secrets when he knew she wouldn’t run.

But he knew that if he was to stand any chance of salvaging his relationship with the young slayer after that evening, he’d need to play by her rules.

And that meant showing Emma that her worst fears were coming true.

With his eyes still shut, Killian dropped his head as he allowed that long-buried instinct inside of himself to build once more. When he could feel it pressing against the point of no return, instead of fighting it down he allowed it to break free, as it took hold of him for the first time in decades.

The moment his eyes opened he heard Emma’s gasp of horror ring out around the silent grave yard, as she took another step back and away from him.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way,” he whispered quietly.

“How _did_ you want me to find out?” she threw back at him “What kind of game were you playing, Killian? What, is it… is it funny to your kind? What was the plan here? To make the slayer fall for you? To turn me to your side, before Gold could get to me? _Tell me_!”

“I’m not like them,” he replied softly. “I don’t… I haven’t taken a life in almost a century, Emma. I can’t. You _have_ to believe that.”

“I don’t,” she replied simply. “I don’t believe you.”

He’d lied to her so much already in the short space of time that they’d come to know each other, that there was absolutely no way she could ever trust him again.

“Emma, please,” he begged, reaching out for her arm.

“Don’t touch me,” she snapped, taking a large step back and out of his range. “Don’t you dare touch me. Don’t follow me home. Don’t follow me _anywhere_. Leave town, Killian. Because the next time I see you, I will kill you,” she threatened, before turning on her heels to storm out of the cemetery.

Emma only made it as far as the corner of the next street before she crumpled down to the sidewalk, to sob into the darkness of the night.

* * *

Killian stood dumbfounded in the middle of a series of headstones, staring at the space that Emma had been stood in only moments before. Every fibre of his being was telling him to go after her, to explain about the curse and to beg her to listen to him. But he knew now was not the time for that.

She needed to be able to trust him, before she could even begin to listen to him.

And he would need to find a way to earn that trust from her.

“Poor, Killian,” cooed a familiar childish voice, from somewhere behind him. “Pining over a girl that he can’t have. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”

“What do you want, Milah?”

“Me? I don’t want anything. I’m here to help.” He felt her step up close behind him, her body brushing against his as she pushed up onto her toes, to whisper into his ear, “I know what you want, Killian. What your entire body craves. I know how hard you fight it. Is it really worth it? Is she?”

He spun around faster than was humanly possible, one hand collecting her wrists to pin above her head, as the other went straight to her throat while he backed her into the mausoleum in the centre of the cemetery.

“There’s the vampire I know a love,” she taunted, her eyes darkening with her lust. “You always did enjoy it rough.”

Killian’s anger died as he realized that he was only feeding into her delusions. He took a moment to calm himself down, before putting some distance between the two of them.

“Go, Milah. Get out of her. Out of this town. And stay away. From me _and_ from Emma.”

“Or what?” she goaded. “Gonna sic your girlfriend on me? Oh, that’s right… she couldn’t slay a vampire if it was chained to the wall in front of her.”

“Maybe she can’t, but I can,” he threatened darkly.

“You wouldn’t hurt me,” she chuckled, like the mere thought was that preposterous. “You never could. It doesn’t have to be this way, Killian. You don’t need to keep denying yourself anymore. The Harvest is coming, and when it does, The Master will rise. _You_ could be his right-hand man. Think about it.”

Milah had disappeared before she’d finished speaking, leaving Killian alone in the darkness of the night.

His hands came up to tug violently on his hair as the words of two women who had meant so much to him, at different points in his long life, began ringing in his ears, pulling him between the darkness and the light.

“Shut up,” he roared, bringing both hands down onto the mausoleum he’d just been leaning against.

The ancient stone crumbled to dust under his attack.


	13. Chapter 12

“Woah, what did that bagel ever do to you?” David asked as he made his way into the kitchen, pausing to drop a kiss to his daughter’s head.

“The stupid thing got stuck in the stupid toaster,” she snapped out, as she began to assault her breakfast with the butter knife.

“Okay.” David gave her a slightly wide berth as he made his way over to the coffee pot and poured mugs for each of them before he took a seat at the breakfast bar and shook out the day’s paper. Emma didn’t seem to notice that her father’s attention appeared to be fixed on her, instead of the newspaper in his hands, as she continued to take out all of her frustrations on her battered bagel.

“Is everything okay?” he finally asked, bracing himself for that teenage fire he’d been burned by before.

“Sure.” She finally turned around to face him and reached up to push her hair off her face, but David knew his daughter well enough to know when she was upset about something.

And that morning, she clearly was.

“What happened?”

For a moment, he was certain that Emma was going to blow off his question with yet more false reassurances. But after a second of contemplating her words, she finally put down the butter knife and asked, “Why do men feel the need to lie constantly?”

David raised a brow in question, but before he could say anything else, she pushed on with her rant. “I mean… I get why people lie. But… if you don’t want to hurt someone, if you want to be their friend, then why would you start that friendship off without an outright lie? And I’m not talking about something small here like saying you’re eighteen when you’re actually seventeen, I’m talking about lying about _who you are_. Why does anyone do that? Surely they know they’re gonna get found out eventually? Or is it really all just a game to you guys?”

When she seemed to run out of steam she eventually dropped down into the seat next to her father and downed half of her coffee in one impressively large gulp.

“Well… not _all_ men lie,” he began carefully, in a tone that told Emma he wasn’t one of the men she was trying to lump into that category right then. “And I can’t say I know for certain why this person lied to you, but there are a number of reasons why people do. Sometimes they do it just because it’s in their nature to try and play people. And if that’s what’s happened here, I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire, Ems. Sometimes they lie because they think that the lie will be better than the truth. And sometimes… sometimes they lie to protect the people they care about. It’s not the right thing to do, but in the heat of the moment, it often feels like it is.”

Emma dropped her head down to rest on her father’s shoulder, just enjoying the comfort that he always brought to her when she needed it most. “Thanks, Dad,” she whispered, before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“It’s what I’m here for. But I feel it’s my duty as your father to inform you that if this boy who’s hurt you _ever_ shows up on our doorstep, I will hurt him. Physically.”

“He won’t,” she chuckled, but she appreciated the gesture. While David often spent long hours working and away from the house, Emma was grateful to have him in her life.

She really couldn’t have asked for a better father.

“Now… how about I make us some real breakfast?” he offered, standing up and stretching out his legs. “Something that doesn’t look like it’s gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson in the toaster.”

* * *

Emma was in a slightly better mood when she pushed her way into the library later that morning, to find her friends already waiting for her.

“Hey Ems,” August greeted, as he lifted his head from the book he was reading to flash her a mega-watt smile. “How did training go last night?”

“It uh… it was um… I don’t wanna talk about it,” she eventually mumbled, dropping down next to Zelena. “How’s the research going?”

“Show her the board, Gold,” August called out, sounding far too chipper for the early hour. And apparently, Emma’s watcher agreed with her, as he left his office with a mug of coffee in one hand, while the other tugged a whiteboard along behind him. But the look on his face, when he turned in August’s direction, was the picture-perfect definition of _if looks could kill_.

“Did you guys make a murder board?” Emma asked as she shot a glance around her small group of friends.

“We prefer to think of it as a slayer board,” Zelena explained. Gold turned the blank side facing them to reveal one that was covered in photocopied sheets of paper with scribbles all over them, and large lines that emerged from the word **THE MASTER** written in bold black letters.

As her eyes darted over the different pieces of information written and pinned to it, Emma took a moment to appreciate that Zelena had clearly tried to jazz things up a little, with her colorful flower grouping in either corner. But most of her attention was focused on the other branches that the group had seemingly managed to establish as being something worthy of their time and investigation.

**THE HELLMOUTH**

**MILAH**

**THE HARVEST**

**HOOK**

Emma opened her mouth to ask about the harvest, but her eyes were stuck on the last branch of the tree, with a familiar term written upon it.

“Wha uh… What’s a hook gotta do with all of this?” she finally squeezed out, as she willed her face not to give away her concerns.

“It’s actually the name of a vampire,” August supplied. “I know, I know. I couldn’t believe it either. But apparently this guy made a name for himself torturing his victims with a fisherman’s hook, before he killed them. Hence the name.”

Emma’s vision was started to blacken at the edges, as the blood rushing through her ears drowned out whatever else it was her friends were saying.

_“I’ve been known as Hook for far longer than I was known by my given name.”._

All of her hope that what had happened the night before; that maybe her father had been right and _he_ was just trying to protect her, flew out of the window at the sight of that one name written on their slayer board.

Because if what August had said was true, then _Hook_ wasn’t just like the rest of his kind – he was worse. And he’d definitely been playing her if he was connected to both the Hellmouth and the Master.

Emma didn’t hear another word that was being spoken. As her stomach churned away at the breakfast her father had so lovingly prepared for them that morning, she scrambled out of her seat and reached for the nearest trashcan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Happy New Year!**


	14. Chapter 13

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Zelena asked, as the two women headed for their lockers ready to start the school day.

“I dunno. I do, I just…”

“You need some time to work out how you feel about everything before you can put it into words,” she reasoned. “I get that. Just know that I’m here when you’re ready, Emma.”

Emma leaned in to wrap her arms around her friend. She wanted Zelena to know just how much she appreciated having the redhead in her life, even if she wasn’t yet ready to open up to her.

“So, what did you pick for the topic of your history paper?” she asked, as she straightened back up to head down the staircase towards their chemistry class.

“I think I’m gonna go with the Salem Witch Trials,” Zelena replied gleefully. “I’ve been reading through some of the Watcher’s journals that Gold has, and apparently they burned a couple of actual witches during that period of time, but most escaped and framed those who had previously wronged them. Obviously, I can’t write about that. But it would be so much fun to have a genuine excuse to continue researching the real history, and to see how much of it has been covered up to keep the existence of the supernatural unknown.”

“Wow. That’s uh… wow.”

“I know. I’m a nerd.”

“No. You do you,” Emma assured her. “Maybe if Gold actually started training me properly I’d be a little more interested in the history of this stuff.”

“I’m sure he will soon. I think he was a little jealous when he realized that you were going to Killian for help.”

“Yeah, well… that won’t be happening again, so he has _nothing_ to worry about there.”

“It’ll get easier, Emma. I promise.”

Emma didn’t have the chance to thank her optimistic friend for trying to lift her spirits. But she hoped that the small smile she sent Zelena’s way as they took their seats in the already packed class would be enough to do that for her.

* * *

Her friend had been right about one thing, as when the small group was reunited in the library on their lunch break, the space was full of workout equipment that she was pretty sure had been found in the depths of the storage closet of the school’s gym.

“What’s all this?” Emma asked, as she dropped her bag onto the desk and then flopped down into the seat behind it.

“It’s for this evening. Before we start training with weapons, we should begin with hand-to-hand combat,” Gold called out, as he hauled an old punching bag into the room to rest against the call desk.

Killian had suggested the same thing, but Emma did her best to push the memories of that night aside and focus on her watcher instead.

“Excellent news. I’ll grab my gym stuff after last period and head straight back here.”

“Question - Do the rest of us get fight training too?” August asked, as his eyes darted over to the weapons cage against the wall, and settled on a rather mean looking crossbow hanging on the back wall.

“You shouldn’t need any. Slayers typically work alone.”

“Yeah, I think we all know I’m not gonna be a typical slayer,” Emma chuckled. “But I do think the slayer should probably know how to, you know, actually _slay_ vampires before anyone else jumps in on this.”

“Good point,” August conceded. “So… I guess the rest of us are stuck on research duty for now?”

“Yes. I need to know as much about this vampire Hook as you can possibly find. While the accounts on The Master are sketchy, there are many on him. So I think he might be the best place for us to start our investigation.”

“What uh… what do they say? About Hook?” Emma asked as casually as she possibly could.

The slayer had her eyes fixed on one of the straps of her bag so she completely missed the look her new friends threw her way. Zelena and August seemed to be waiting for Gold to answer her question, but he had his head buried in yet another book.

Emma had to clear her throat to grab his attention. “Hello? Earth to Gold? Why is this Hook such a big deal?”

“He’s um, he’s been around for a while,” Gold replied carefully, marking his page with what looked like a battered piece of leather before he set the book down on the counter. “Nobody has heard from him in the last century, so he’s presumed dead. But before that, he was quite the prolific vampire.”

“Huh.”

_“I haven’t taken a life in almost a century, Emma.”_

The words echoed through her mind as she considered what Gold had just said. If Killian hadn’t taken a life in almost a century, that could explain why Hook was presumed dead. But Emma still wasn’t willing to believe everything he’d said that night. He’d spent every moment of their time together before that lying to her. She had no reason to believe that he’d told her the truth when he’d spoke of his past.

“What do you mean that he was prolific before that?” she asked instead.

Gold’s eyes darted over to meet Zelena’s, who dropped her gaze to the book open in front of her, and then over to August. But neither of them seemed to want to help him answer Emma’s question. And he couldn’t exactly blame them for that.

“He’s um… he’s killed at least two slayers that we know of.”

Emma’s stomach dropped once more at Gold’s revelation.

Killian had always known what she was. He’d acted like he wanted to help her, but now she was even more certain than ever before that it had all been a lie. All he wanted was to add yet another slayer to his growing tally. Killing an untrained one wouldn’t give him much in the form of bragging rights, but killing a slayer he’d trained, one that he’d made to believe was safe with him – well _that_ would be something.

“Emma?”

“Yeah?” Her head snapped up to meet Zelena’s eyes and a quick glance around the library showed her new friends and watcher staring back at her with the same look of concern on their faces.

“Sorry. I was uh… I was just remembering a promise I made to my dad,” she lied. Nobody looked like they were buying it, but the shrill ring of the bell stopped her from facing any more awkward questions.

Zelena waited until they were sat down in their seats for their math class before she slid a note over for her friend to read. Emma took a moment to appreciate that she was old-school enough to still pass notes in class before she opened it up to read what had been written inside.

**It’s Killian, isn’t it? He’s Hook.**

She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat that wanted to protest the allegation, but maybe having someone to talk it all out with would help with the confusion swirling around in her mind. Because as much as she wanted to hate Killian for what he’d done to her, a part of her was still struggling to do that.

So instead of ignoring the note, or writing out some kind of lie to her friend, Emma pulled out her own pen and scratched three simple words underneath Zelena’s question.

_Yes. He is._


	15. Chapter 14

“So, Killian’s a vampire?”

“Yeah,” Emma sighed, as she took a seat on the stone bench beside her friend. The two women had told August they were headed to the bathroom to deal with ‘women’s problems’ in order to get a moment alone. And he’d quickly ushered them off, promising to meet them in the library when they were done. Zelena hated lying to him, but she also knew that their friend desperately needed someone to talk to.

“But he’s not just any vampire,” Emma continued bitterly. “He’s one that’s notorious for killing slayers. God, I’m so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Emma. He offered to help you. I don’t think anyone in your position would have taken that as an indication that he was a vampire.”

“But I should have. I should have been able to sense who he was. I should have at least suspected that _something_ was going on, Zelena. But I didn’t. I let his pretty face distract me and now… I’m probably the biggest laughing stock the underworld’s ever seen.”

“You are _not_ a laughing stock,” she protested fiercely. After all, Emma was talking about her friend there, and nobody spoke about Zelena’s friends that way. At least, not to her face. “He just… isn’t it possible that he’s changed?” she hedged.

“Can vampires change?”

Both women sat in silence for a moment as they considered that question. It was probably one that Gold would have a better answer for, but Emma wasn’t in the mood to share her epic fuckup with her watcher just yet.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. You and I both know that he hasn’t changed,” she sighed. “I mean, have you seen anything about good vampires in those journals that you’ve read so far.”

Zelena pursed her lips and shook her head. From what little she’d read, the life of a slayer was normally incredibly isolated and very short. She was oddly pleased that vampires had tried to kill her when they had, because at least that meant Emma wouldn’t have to cope with all of these changes in her life alone, like many of the slayers before her. And maybe, just maybe, that would mean that her friend would be able to survive a little longer, thanks to the added help she would get along the way.

“We should get to the library before August sends out a search party,” Emma chuckled, pushing herself back up to her full height as she swung her bag over her shoulder. “I need to make a detour and grab my gym stuff before we do, though.”

“Is it odd that I’m looking forward to watching Gold train you?” Zelena asked. “He seems like a really nice guy but… he looks like he’d enjoy gym class less than I do. And I _really_ hate gym class.”

“Not at all. I mean, they really couldn’t have picked an odder bunch of people to oversee the physical training of teenaged girls,” Emma giggled.

* * *

“Oooooff.”

Gold’s back hit the floor once more with a dull thud, and for a moment, the watcher remained where he was, winded by the action.

“Do you wanna go again?” Emma asked brightly, as she extended a hand down to help him up.

“No! There’ll be no need for that. It seems like you have the basics covered here. Why don’t you try turning your attention to the bag for a while? That way… I might be able to walk tomorrow.” Gold hobbled his way awkwardly through to his office, presumably to make himself a cup of tea and nurse his wounds in private, while Emma did just as he’d asked, and turned her attention to the punching bag that now hung from the center of the room.

It was cathartic to take out all of her frustrations on the bag, instead of bottling them up. Emma didn’t have to worry about holding herself back to protect those around her. And the more she allowed her instincts to take over, the more freeing it became and the easier it was just to let go. She hadn’t realized how hard she’d been hitting the bag until one particular punch she landed split the seam, and sand came pouring out all over the floor.

“Woah. I think somebody found her inner slayer,” August chuckled.

“Yeah. I uh, I guess I did.”

“I’ll go and get a broom,” Gold announced, as he disappeared back into his office once more. Emma had been so lost in the moment that she hadn’t even seen him leave it to begin with.

“Maybe um… maybe I should try hitting the streets?” she suggested. “It’s like August said, I clearly found my inner slayer. And someone needs to keep an ear to the ground about this whole Hellmouth thing.”

“We could come with you,” August offered, eyeing the crossbow in the weapon’s cage once more.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” Emma cringed a little even as she said the words. She was hoping that her friends wouldn’t take them as an insult. She just knew that she’d never be able to live with herself if something ended up happening to them on her watch. “I’m not entirely sure that I can take care of myself right now, so I don’t want to do something that would end up putting you guys in danger.”

“Someone should be watching out for you,” Zelena protested. She left the _‘now that Killian’s not,’_ part unspoken, but Emma knew exactly what her friend had meant.

“I’m not sure it works like that, but thanks. I’m uh… I’m gonna go and get changed and then load up,” she said, turning on her heels to leave the room before she could talk herself out of her own plan.

* * *

Gold hadn’t been too happy about the idea of Emma heading out alone without any kind of backup. He didn’t put up much of a fight, however, when she pointed out that from what they’d read so far, every slayer always patrolled without backup.

But when she was finally on the streets alone, Emma’s confidence faltered. Everything seemed bigger and scarier in the dark, especially now that she knew what lurked in the shadows.

She hadn’t gotten far when she sensed something behind her. Or, more accurately, someone. Emma cursed her lack of training at that moment because she couldn’t tell if that _someone_ was friend or foe, and she didn’t want to let on that she knew she was being followed. So she did the only thing she could think to do and kept her strides even as headed for familiar ground. The school felt like the perfect place to seek refuge. Emma knew the campus well enough to know how to get around it, and she knew where she’d find more weapons, should she need them.

When she could finally see the building in the distance, she turned and planted her feet as she called out, “show yourself.”

A part of her had been expecting Killian to emerge from the shadows. After all, he had that creepy stalker-like tendency nailed. So the yellow eyes and manic glare that slowly materialized from the darkness had her taking a step back in horror.

“Aww, were you expecting someone else?” the female vampire drawled.

Emma reached behind her back to pull out the wooden stake that was tucked into her waistband as she tried to school her features. “I’m sorry. I was just a little shocked by your appearance,” she quipped. “I think you should talk to your dermatologist about a career change. Between the two of us, you’re _really_ showing your age tonight.”

The vampire snarled a little as she took another step forward, placing herself under the warm glow of the nearest street lamp. It took Emma a moment to recognize her soon-to-be assailant, and when she did, her heart sank. This was the vampire that Killian had warned her to stay away from. The one he’d most likely turned centuries before she’d been born.

“Killian’s not here,” the vampire taunted, as she held her arms open and turned once under the spotlight the lamp provided. “I know you were expecting him. Probably even hoping that he was the one who had been following you. Hoping that he’d come and beg for your forgiveness, or plead for you to hear his tragic backstory. But that’s not gonna happen tonight. Tonight… you’re gonna die scared and alone, only feet away from where all of your little friends are waiting for you. And while you lay out here, bleeding to death, I’ll be in _there_ … ripping out their throats.”

The last thing Emma heard before the vampire moved was a menacing snarl, but it didn’t come from the woman charging at her.

**Author's Note:**

> **Thanks for reading.**
> 
>  
> 
> **You can find the rest of the wonderful fics and artwork for the Captain Swan Supernatural Summer over on Tumblr, and in the AO3 collection. I'm kicking things off, but everyone will be posting regularly throughout the summer - so please go and show them some love.**


End file.
